Sun Yat-sen University is directly under the Ministry of Education of People's Republic of China (PRC), and directly under the Central Committee. It is a national key university jointly established by the Ministry of Education, the State Bureau of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and Guangdong Province, and ranks among the first batch of national "double-class" A, "985 Project" and "21/project". Selected into Everest Plan,11/plan, excellent legal talents education and training plan, excellent doctoral education and training plan, national public graduate program for building high-level universities, scholarship for overseas students of China government, and national model university for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform. The school has become a first-class modern comprehensive university in China and internationally renowned, and is striving to become a global academic center.

Sun Yat-sen University is a vice-ministerial university (medium-level university), that is, a university directly managed by the central government. The positions of party secretary and president are listed in the list of cadres managed by the central government, and they are middle-level cadres. At present, the party secretary and dean of China Management College are all vice ministers.