The school was founded in 1909 and is located in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. It is under the direct control of the central government at the deputy ministerial level. It is a national key comprehensive university directly under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and jointly built by the Ministry of Education, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and Gansu Province. It ranks among National “Double First-Class”, “985 Project” and “211 Project”.