Yunnan University was founded in 1922, then named "Donglu Public School", which was a private educational institution founded by Zheng Zhenduo, a famous patriotic educator in Yunnan. At that time, Yunnan Province was in a period of political, economic and cultural adjustment, and the social demand for new education increased sharply. Therefore, "Donglu Public School" quickly became one of the representative institutions of new education in Yunnan.

1923, "Donglu Public School" officially opened, and the following year it was renamed "Yunnan Higher Normal School". 1934, the school was reorganized as "Provincial Yunnan University". From 65438 to 0938, during the Anti-Japanese War, the school was moved to Kunming by the National Government and changed to "National Yunnan University", becoming one of the earliest comprehensive universities in the western frontier of China.

From1940s to1early 1950s, Yunnan University entered a relatively bleak period. However, with the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), the school began to recover gradually, and the teaching scale and scientific research level also improved, especially since the 1980s, the school has made important progress in strengthening teaching and scientific research.

At present, Yunnan University is one of the national key universities and an important higher education institution in Yunnan Province. At present, the school has 48 undergraduate majors, including 1 undergraduate new engineering comprehensive reform pilot major, 27 master's degree authorization categories and 8 doctoral degree authorization categories, covering many disciplines such as literature, history, philosophy, science, engineering, law, economics, management, teaching and art.

In addition, Yunnan University actively participated in international exchanges, established friendly and cooperative relations with more than 20 universities in the world, and became the permanent secretary-general of China Association of Southeast Asian Universities (ASAIHL).