Founded in 1958, Ningxia University is a key provincial university run by both the Ministry of Education and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s Regional Government.The university is strategically situated to the north of the Yellow river in Yinchuan. Its tranquil lakes and well-maintained grounds add to a scenic environment ideal for learning. This comprehensive university has campuses in three districts, occupying 2416 mu; the school has a building area of 690,000 sqm. Ningxia University employs 2,600 teaching and administrative staff.  This includes 1361 full-time teachers, half of whom have an advanced certificate and 50% of whom have Master’s degrees or beyond. In addition, 19 of these teachers have been chosen as part of the “Hundreds & Thousands Talented Personnel Project”. The University has more than 15,000 full-time undergraduate students, over 1,300 graduate students, over 1,100 ethnic minority students undertaking preparatory courses and more than 15,000 students in continuing education. Over the years, the university has also trained more than 500 foreign students.

         The University consists of 17 colleges, department of social sciences, a college for ethnic minority students undertaking preparatory courses, a college for adult education, a college for continuing education, a college for distance education, an independent second-order college and Xinhua College. Ningxia University offers many specialist degrees – there are 3 doctorates programs, 48 different Master’s degrees and 65 undergraduate degrees. There are also 17 regional key disciplines. The University has 98 research institutes and more than 90 laboratories in different fields.  The Laboratory for Natural Gas Transformation is a key laboratory run by both the Ministry of Education and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s Regional Government. The Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Biological Resources and the Laboratory of Regulation and Restoration of the Northwest Degraded Ecosystem are both the key laboratories run by the Ministry of Education. The Research Centre for Xixia Studies is the Humanities and Social Science Research Base approved by Ministry of Education. The University has a collection of 1.2 million volumes of books and a fixed asset of 850 Million Yuan. The Internet Service Centre has been connected with the China Education and Research Network since it was built in 1995.

         In the process of accelerating the construction and development of the University, external resources have been utilized, expanding the cooperation effort with foreigners. Domestic, the University has established a long-term and stable relationship with the following universities: Shanghai Jiao tong University, Shandong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, the Nanjing Normal University and Nanchang University. Areas of cooperation include: course development; scientific research, the development of science and technology, the training of teachers and administrators, postgraduate education programmes, and combined usage of facilities and of library information.

         Ningxia University has good relations with over twenty universities, both domestic and international.  Some overseas universities include those from America, England, Germany, Canada, Japan, Russia, Italy, Norway, Austria, Pakistan and France. There have been exchange programmes with some of these universities. Student exchange programmes, expert exchange visits, the training of teachers and joint scientific research with these universities have been established.