Dali University, referred to as "PolyU" for short, is located in Dali City, Yunnan Province, and was selected as a pilot university in the "Excellent Doctoral Education and Training Program" of the Ministry of Education. It is a comprehensive undergraduate school with the advantages of medicine, pharmacy, education and biology, featuring ethnology and art, multidisciplinary integration and multi-level coordinated development. It is a provincial and national institution of higher learning.
Universities of Applied Sciences in western Yunnan, referred to as "Yunnan University", is located in Dali City, Yunnan Province. It is a full-time public undergraduate college approved by the Ministry of Education and the Yunnan Provincial People's Government, organized by the Yunnan Provincial People's Government and headed by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education. It is the first batch of Universities of Applied Sciences approved by the Ministry of Education, one of the six precision assistance projects of the Ministry of Education in western Yunnan, and a member of Yunnan Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information Society.
Dali Vocational and Technical College of Agriculture and Forestry is a public full-time ordinary college approved by the Yunnan Provincial People's Government and filed by the Ministry of Education. It is the first excellent vocational education school of Huang Yanpei in Yunnan Province, the first batch of modern apprenticeship pilot units in Yunnan Province, and the garden unit in Yunnan Province.
Dali Nursing Vocational College is a full-time public general higher vocational college approved by the Yunnan Provincial Government and filed by the Ministry of Education.