Northwest University for Nationalities is located in Lanzhou, an important node city of the Belt and Road Initiative. It is the first national institution of higher learning founded after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, it is a public institution jointly established by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Education, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the People's Government of Gansu Province, and a high-level university construction unit determined by Gansu Province.