Up to now, there are 49 universities in Gansu, including Lanzhou University, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Gansu Agricultural University, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou City University, Longdong College, Tianshui Normal University, Hexi College, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Northwest University for Nationalities, Gansu University of Political Science and Law, Gansu Normal University for Nationalities and Lanzhou University of Arts and Sciences.

Lanzhou University is a comprehensive national key university directly under People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Ministry of Education. It is jointly established by the State Bureau of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Ministry of Education, and listed as "Double First-class", "985 Project" and "21/project". Selected into the Everest Plan, Strong Foundation Plan, 20 1 1 plan,11plan, excellent legal talents education and training plan, excellent doctor education and training plan, excellent agricultural and forestry talents education and training plan, national innovation experiment plan for college students, and national innovation and entrepreneurship training plan for college students. New engineering research and practice project, China government scholarship for overseas students in China, national demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform, the first batch of universities with the right to award bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees and the first batch of postdoctoral research mobile stations in China are the Sino-Russian comprehensive university alliance, the independent auditing unit for degree authorization and the governing unit of China Artificial Intelligence Education Association.

The school was founded in 1909, and its predecessor was Gansu Law and Politics School established during the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. 1928 extended to Lanzhou Sun Yat-sen University; 1946 was named National Lanzhou University. 1952, identified as one of the 14 comprehensive universities in China; Postgraduate education begins at1954; 200 1 The Ministry of Education and the Gansu Provincial Government signed a provincial and ministerial key construction agreement; In 2002 and 2004, the former Gansu Grassland Ecology Institute and Lanzhou Medical College were merged into Lanzhou University.