After China's nationwide restructuring of colleges and universities in 1952, Southeast University commenced its recruitment of graduate students. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, totaling 117 graduate students were enrolled and in 1978, the graduate recruitment resumed. Southeast University was among the first to be able to grant bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, to set up Mobile Post-doctoral Centers and to be listed among “Project 985” and “Project 211” universities after the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees” was implemented in 1981. The University was also included in the first batch of universities approved to recruit and train engineering graduates and to confer the engineering doctoral degree. In 2017, Southeast University was evaluated as an A-level university in China. Currently, the University enjoys a unique status as a pilot school capable of conferring master's and doctoral degrees through its own arrangement and introducing new doctoral supervisors. The University was also one of the first nationally accredited institutions enrolling and training engineering graduates and offering the engineering doctoral degree. In April 1986, approved by China's State Council, Southeast University began to run its Graduate School on a pilot basis. In March 1996, its Graduate School was officially founded after being approved by China's State Education Commission (now China's Ministry of Education). Southeast University like many other key universities in China, has grown into a major base for fostering outstanding graduate students.

Southeast University boasts a strong faculty team consisting of over 2991 full-time teachers, among which 2569 possess doctorate degrees, 2021 enjoys senior titles (including full professors and associate professors), 1071 are supervisors for doctoral students, and 2166 are supervisors for graduate students. In addition, there’re also 12 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, 1 academician of the Academy of Europe, 13 members of the 7th Disciplinary Appraisal Panels of the State Council Academic Committee, 6 winners of the national awards for renowned teachers, 50 persons granted with funds from the National Outstanding Youth Science Foundation, 25 national-level candidates for “Millions of Talents Program” initiated by the Ministry of Personnel and 2 persons titled as “National Top 10 Youth Jurisconsults”. Currently, at Southeast University, there are 34 first-level disciplines authorized to offer doctoral degrees and 48 first-level disciplines authorized to offer master's degrees, covering Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, Science, Engineering, Medicine, Management, Art, etc. Up to March 2020,there are 20,077 graduate students. 8,364 doctoral degrees and 63,601 master's degrees have been conferred by Southeast University.

Driven by the goal of building a world-class university, Southeast University has made great efforts in fostering its superior disciplines, aiming to establish top disciplines parallel with the best in the world. Among all the disciplines it has to offer, 12 rank among the top 1% according to the ESI, including Engineering, Computer Science, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Clinical Medicine, Biology and Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Neuroscience and Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, and Environmental Science and Ecology, of which Engineering (the 20^th), and Computer Science (the 16^th ) are listed among the top 1‰ worldwide. In joining the Project 985, the Project 211, the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Double First-Class initiative (China’s national project to build world-class universities and world-class disciplines), Southeast University has seen a more sophisticated discipline structure and ever greater discipline competitiveness. In September 2017, the University was listed among the A-level universities in China, and its 11 disciplines were evaluated as the first-class disciplines, including Materials Science and Engineering, Electronic Science and Technology, Information and Communication Engineering, Control Science and Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Landscape Architecture, and Art Theory. Due to that, Southeast University ranked 8th in China in terms of the number of selected first-class disciplines. In the fourth round of discipline evaluation organized by the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center (CDGDC) of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University had 5 disciplines that were awarded A+, namely Architecture, Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Art Theory, which ranked the University 8th among all the universities in China in terms of the number of disciplines that received A+.

As Southeast University continuously expands and strengthens its disciplines, Southeast University Graduate School has always been working to innovate its educational models and improves the outcomes of graduate training. The core mission of graduate education is to train high-level and top-notch innovative talents that meet the needs of the country. The key is to improve the outcomes of graduate training. After more than 20 years of exploration and practice, Southeast University Graduate School has continued to find new ways of education and established a complete set of effective methods to ensure the quality of the postgraduate training.

First, coordinately carry out multiple measures to attract outstanding students, who constitute a formative role in improving the quality of graduate education. Southeast University has adopted various measures such as optimizing the assessment and selection of recommended students; comprehensively implementing the appraisal system for doctoral candidates; establishing the scholarship for first-year doctoral candidates; pushing forward the reform of the graduate entrance examination, specifying examination categories, optimizing the subjects and content of the first-round examination, strengthening the role of the second-round examination, further assessing candidates' ability, laying emphasis on the comprehensive assessment, and constituting a more scientific, effective, fair and just system for assessing and selecting candidates.

Secondly, broaden knowledge domains and improve knowledge structure. Top-notch innovative talents need not only grasp basic professional knowledge, but also be knowledgeable in related disciplines. Embracing the mainstream of modern science and technology, Southeast University has kept strengthening the general education while passionately working on the broad-caliber education mode to foster top-notch innovative talents, and help each and every graduate student form a reasonable knowledge structure.

Thirdly, push further the reform of graduate teaching methods and steadily improve the quality of theses and dissertations. On the basis of optimizing the curriculum system, enhancing curriculum construction and adopting new teaching modes, Southeast University has gradually established and improved the system of checking and assessing the quality of graduate teaching, set up the Excellent Doctoral Dissertations Fund to encourage graduate students to devote themselves to studies and scientific research during their academic years.

Fourthly, improve the international talent training system and strive to train top-notch innovative talents with an international perspective. Southeast University Graduate School has always been endeavoring to provide more support for its postgraduate students studying abroad, and vigorously promote joint education. It has established close cooperation and exchange relationships with many world-class universities and high-level research institutions, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California, Berkeley.

Southeast University has made unremitting efforts to create a new pattern of education with clear focuses covering multiple dimensions and various levels as a way to achieve the goal of leading higher education in the world through practical cooperation. In the new era, in order to adapt to the new environment of graduate education, Southeast University Graduate School will focus on mentoring excellent students, serving public demand, improving education outcomes, and pursuing perfection. It will also optimize its administrative structure, innovate its training models, pay more attention to the outcome of education, and enhance international cooperation. By doing so, Southeast University Graduate School hopes to facilitate innovation in its training systems and mechanisms, comprehensively improve postgraduate education and the value of degrees. From a broader perspective, Southeast University Graduate School strives to train leading talents with a strong commitment to the community and an international outlook, who are responsible for the future and the good of all mankind. Through its efforts, Southeast University Graduate School is also contributing its share to achieving the goal of constructing a powerful nation of higher education and realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Southeast University Graduate School will strive to build a world-class graduate training base with Chinese characteristics by 2025, boasting first-class disciplines, sound training environments, best management teams, and greatest training outcomes. It is hoped that its graduate education will play a demonstrative and leading role in China’s higher education sector, and have a considerable international influence. By 2030, it is expected that Southeast University will rank among the world's top universities, and its postgraduate education will enjoy world-class status.