Yunnan University was founded in 1922 as a private Donglu University. It was renamed Provincial Yunnan University in 1934 and National Yunnan University in 1938. In 1946, the Encyclopedia Britannica listed Yunnan University as one of the 15 world famous universities in China. In 1978, Yunnan University was identified by the State Council as one of the 88 key universities in China. In 1996, it was one of the first batch of universities to be listed in the national "211 Project" key construction universities. In 2017, it became one of the first batch of 42 "first-class universities" in China. In 2018, it ranked among the 14 universities in the central and western regions that are "dominated by ministries and jointly built by ministries and provinces".