Chongqing University was founded in 1929 with the vision of building a “well-equipped and influential university”. By the 1940s, the University had developed into a comprehensive university with a complete system of disciplines covering liberal arts, science, engineering, business, jurisprudence, and medicine, etc. In 1952, it became a multi-disciplinary university with focus on engineering disciplines after a round of nationwide faculty adjustment. In 1960, it was designated as a national key university. Since the Opening-up and Reform, the University has evolved into a higher education institution that mainly consists of engineering disciplines together with multiple other disciplines after all-around restoration, adjustment, reform, and construction. In 1998, the university was approved as a university for key construction under the state “Project 211”. In 2000, former Chongqing Jianzhu University and Chongqing Architecture Junior College merged with Chongqing University, together constituting the new Chongqing University. In 2001, it became a university for key construction under the state “Project 985”. In 2017, it was elected as a state “Class-A University under the National World-First-Rate University Construction Program”. In 2022, it was elected as a “Double First-class University” in the second round assessment. Hence, the University has entered a new era, striding toward the educational goal of a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.

Chongqing University has a full range of disciplines, covering 11 categories, namely science, engineering, economics, management, jurisprudence, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, education, and art. Now the University has 7 faculties, 35 schools, and 7 affiliated hospitals. The number of faculty and staff is over 5,300 persons, the student population is over 50,000 persons among whom over 24,000 are postgraduates and over 26,000 are undergraduates. The campuses occupy a total land area of over 5,300 mu (approximately 883 acres), consisting of Campus A, Campus B, Campus C, and the Huxi Campus, and the Liangjiang Campus.

Chongqing University is selected into the first batch of 10 pilot universities for “Three-full Education” comprehensive reform, the first batch of 20 universities for “ideological and political work innovation centers of higher education institutions”, and the first batch of 10 universities for national elite institute of engineering construction, and is selected as one of the 10 universities for the “special cultivation program for energy storage technology high-level talents urgently needed by the state”, and is selected as a national industry and education integration innovation platform for energy storage technologies. The University is actively implementing the “2029 Action Plan for Undergraduate Education of Chongqing University” in order to build first-class undergraduate education. It has established Undergraduate School to fully carry out big category enrollment and cultivation and enhance general education. 61 majors of the University have been elected as Top Undergraduate Major of China, and 68 courses have been elected as Top Undergraduate Course of China. The majors of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics and Physics have been selected into “Pilot Reform of Enrollment for Basic Subject”. The Sugon Computer Science Top Student Cultivation Base has been approved as a basic discipline top student cultivation version 2.0 base by the Ministry of Education; and the School of Big Data & Software Engineering has been selected into the first batch of characteristic and demonstrative software schools. The University has established the Mingyue Lake New Engineering Education Innovation Platform and Chongqing Elite Institute of Engineering in collaboration with Liangjiang New Area.

Chongqing University continues to deepen reform of the cultivation systems and mechanisms and has carried out special pilot reform programs of cultivating research fund Doctors and engineering Masters and Doctors, and is actively implementing the “graduate education high-quality development action plan” so as to create excellent graduate education. The University has been approved as a university with the autonomous degree-granting authority. Currently, the University has 38 first-level discipline doctoral degree programs, 8 doctoral professional degree programs, and 51 first-level discipline Master’s degree programs and 25 professional degree programs. The size of doctoral degree student enrollment every year is more than 1,150 persons.

Chongqing University deepens “industry and education integration and crossover cultivation”. It has been successively accredited with such titles as the “National First Batch of Demonstrative Universities for Deepening the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Educational Reform”, a “University with National Typical Experiences for Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, and a “Demonstration Base for National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, etc. The University has undertaken the 8th China International Internet+ College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest.