湖南工程学院坐落于一代伟人毛泽东的故乡湖南省湘潭市，是湖南省人民政府举办的本科院校。学校是教育部“服务国家特殊需求”硕士专业学位研究生教育试点高校、教育部首批“卓越工程师教育培养计划”；是湖南省首批硕士学位授予立项建设单位、首批“2011计划”入选高校、湖南省“双一流”建设高水平应用特色学院、湖南省本科一批招生单位。

湖南工程学院于2000年6月由原湘潭机电高等专科学校和湖南纺织高等专科学校合并组建而成。湘潭机电高等专科学校始创于1951年，隶属于原机械工业部，是全国示范性高等工程专科重点建设学校。湖南纺织高等专科学校始创于1978年，隶属于原湖南省纺织工业厅。1958年至1963年，湘潭机电高专的前身“湘潭电机学院”曾开办过5年本科教育。

学校现有主校区和书院路校区2个校区，校园占地面积1830亩，建筑面积56万平方米。学校依江傍湖，环境幽雅，墨韵书香，是湖南省“园林式单位”“文明高等学校”“文明标兵校园”。

Hunan Institute of Engineering, built by the Hunan Government, is located in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, the hometown of the great man Mao Zedong. It is a pilot university for postgraduate education of the Ministry of Education's "National Talent Training Program for Special Needs", and the first batch of the "Excellent Engineers Education and Training Program" and the "New Engineering Research and Practice Project" implemented by the Ministry of Education. It is authorized to confer Master's degree in Hunan Province and selected into the “2011 Plan” universities. HIE follows the “Double First-Class” initiative and becomes the model to build the high-level application-oriented university with comprehensive characteristics. It is among the first-batch universities for undergraduate admission in Hunan Province.

HIE was established in June 2000 by merging the former Xiangtan Mechanical and Electrical College (founded in 1951, under the former Ministry of Machinery Industry, and is a national demonstration college for higher engineering education), Hunan Textile College (founded in 1978, under the former Hunan Textile Industry Department). From 1958 to 1963, "Xiangtan Electrical Engineering College", the former Xiangtan Mechanical and Electrical College, had five years of undergraduate education.

The school has two campuses, the main campus and the south campus. The campus covers an area of 1,806 mu with a building area of 540,000 square meters. The main campus is adjacent to the Xiangjiang River, sitting on the Muyu Lake with beautiful landscapes. It is a "garden-style", "highly civilized university" and “civilized campus” in Hunan Province.