Suzhou University, located in Suzhou, a famous historical and cultural city, is a state-level "world-class discipline construction university" jointly established by the Ministry of Education and the People's Government of Jiangsu Province. The national "2 1 1 Project" and "20 1 1 Plan" were selected as the first batch of universities, and the National Bureau of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the People's Government of Jiangsu Province established them as universities in Jiangsu Province. It has been selected into the national "11/plan", the education and training plan for outstanding legal talents, the education and training plan for outstanding engineers, the education and training plan for outstanding doctors, the national postgraduate plan for building high-level universities, and the national innovation experiment plan for college students.

Soochow University, formerly known as 1900, is the first university in China to establish a modern university discipline system. It is the first university in China to establish a periodical, the first professional education in law (Anglo-American law) and the first postgraduate education.

1952 faculty adjustment, Suzhou University College of Arts and Sciences, Sunan College of Culture and Education, and Jiangnan University Department of Mathematics and Science merged to form Sunan Normal University, which was renamed Jiangsu Normal University in the same year. 1982, the school was renamed Suzhou University. Subsequently, Suzhou Sericulture Institute (1995), Suzhou Silk Vocational and Technical College (1997) and Suzhou Medical College (2000) were merged into Suzhou University.