The construction of the Department of Underground Engineering of Southeast University relies on the discipline of Geotechnical Engineering, a key discipline of Jiangsu Province.The department has distinguished scientific and technological innovation teams, and Key Laboratory of Underground Engineering and Environmental Safety in Jiangsu Province. It is one of the earliest institutions engaged in the teaching and research of underground engineering and geotechnical engineering in my country. 

The discipline of geotechnical engineering is one of national first-level discipline of transportation engineering of Southeast University and a component of the dominant disciplines of Jiangsu Province.It is also one of the supporting disciplines that obtained A+ in the 2017 National Discipline Assessment of Transportation Engineering and Civil Engineering of Southeast University. 

The Department of Underground Engineering closely combines the major development needs of the country, and has formed its own research characteristics. A number of research teams have been established, such as intelligent testing of geotechnical and underground engineering, special roadbed and foundation treatment, environmental geotechnical engineering, solid waste recycling and geotechnical materials, and urban underground space, and have achieved brilliant results. It has successively undertaken more than 70 national key research and development projects, national science and technology support projects, 863 projects, the National Natural Science Foundation, and provincial and ministerial-level scientific research projects. Additionally, It has received more than 30 awards, including the second prize of the National Technology Invention Award, the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National 100 Excellent Doctoral Dissertations, the first prize of the Ministry and Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, and the China Highway Society Award.

The department attaches great importance to global cooperation, and has successively signed cooperation agreements with well-known universities in the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Australia to comprehensively promote strategic cooperation in personnel training, scientific research, international exchanges and cooperation, and establish a long-term cooperation mechanism.