TUSUR was founded as Tomsk Institute of Radioelectronics and Electronic Engineering by decree of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on April 21, 1962. Its goal was to train engineers and researchers for the booming radioelectronic, missile and space industries. The university was formed by splitting off two faculties of Tomsk Polytechnic University, the Faculty of Radio Engineering and the Faculty of Electric Radio Control, along with 2000 of their undergraduate and postgraduate students and 60 faculty members. The original structure of the newly founded institute included 21 departments, 9 of which were transferred from TPU, and three faculties for full-time students (Faculties of Radio Engineering, Radio Equipment and Electronic Engineering) and one faculty of extramural learning.