Yunnan Normal University, referred to as "Yunnan Normal University", is located in Kunming, Yunnan Province. It is a provincial key normal university jointly established by the Ministry of Education of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the People's Government of Yunnan Province. It has been selected as one of the national key universities in the "Basic Capacity Building Project of Central and Western Universities" and is one of the universities where international students receive scholarships from the China Government. It is one of the three local normal universities in the pilot reform of free normal students in China. The Ministry of Education has built the first batch of demonstration base universities for returned overseas students and the second batch of universities in China to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education, which is known as the "cradle of teachers on the red soil plateau".

The predecessor of Yunnan Normal University can be traced back to the Teachers College of National Southwest United University, which was born in 1938 (Wuyin year). 1950 National Kunming Teachers College was renamed Kunming Teachers College; 1984 was renamed Yunnan Normal University.