Lanzhou Jiaotong University, founded in 1958, is the third railway university in China established by Southwest Jiaotong University and some departments of Beijing Jiaotong University. The Ministry of Education's "model universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform", Gansu high-level universities and "first-class discipline" universities are the "three-to-one" counterpart support universities approved by the Ministry of Education for Tianjin University, Beijing Jiaotong University and Southwest Jiaotong University.

The school has two campuses, covering an area of 1.564 mu, with a building area of 727,700 square meters and a library of 2,334,500 books. There are 22 directly affiliated colleges (departments) and National University Science Park 1. There are 70 undergraduate majors. There are 6 state-level specialty construction sites, 1 national comprehensive reform pilot specialty, 27 majors are approved as national first-class undergraduate specialty construction sites, and 13 courses are approved as national first-class undergraduate programs. In 2023, four achievements won the National Teaching Achievement Award.