Tarim University was founded in June 1998 by General Wang Zhen, then Minister of Agriculture and Reclamation. He served as honorary chairman for life. The school is the first batch of undergraduate colleges with the right to award bachelor's degrees approved by the State Council Academic Degrees Committee. In 2003, he was granted the right to confer a master's degree. In May 2004, it was renamed Tarim University with the approval of the Ministry of Education. In 2007, it was rated as "excellent" in the evaluation of undergraduate teaching level by the Ministry of Education.