Central South University was formed by the merger of Central South University of Technology, Hunan Medical University and Changsha Railway Institute on April 29th, 2000. It is the only university directly under the central government in Hunan Province.

Before the merger, Central South University of Technology was a national key university of 2 1 1 project directly under the Ministry of Education.

Before the merger, Hunan Medical University was directly under the Ministry of Health and had passed the pre-examination of 2 1 1 project.

Before the merger of Changsha Railway Institute, it was the competent organization of the Ministry of Railways.

Before the merger, all three universities had their own strong strength, which was a strong merger. At that time, the country carried out the structural adjustment of colleges and universities nationwide, from learning the Soviet-style professional college development model to learning the comprehensive university model in Europe and America. It was during this period that the 985 project began to be audited and implemented, so many provinces and cities began to promote the merger and adjustment of universities with strong strength in the province in order to strive for the quota of the 985 project. The comprehensive strength of the merged Central South University has always ranked first in Hunan Province (National University of Defense Technology is a special type of institution, and there is no direct competition with other universities in Hunan Province for 985 places), and it has received strong support from Hunan Province, so it successfully entered the 985 Project with its own strength and support from Hunan Province. There are rumors on the Internet that Hunan Medical University was supposed to merge with Hunan University, but it failed for various reasons, and finally made Central South University today.