For the abstract and general theory of "Control Engineering Fundamental", the traditional teaching methods of the course has been facing difficulties which the teachers find it difficult to teach and the students feel it hard to learn for a long time. In order to improve teaching efficiency and quality of the course, the virtual experiment method was applied in the teaching practice of the course. The new method relies on MATLAB/Simulink and virtual experiment platform to realize the combination of real experiment and virtual experiment, furthermore provides an open self-learning platform for students. Experimental study on the teaching of the course for three years was carried out by using equal group test method to verify the effect of virtual experiment. The results show that virtual experiment can not only play a very good role in the course teaching and significantly improve the teaching effect, but also promote students' professional quality and the ability of independent innovation.