Founded in 1929, the university put forward a vision of building a "complete and profound university", and by the 1940s it had developed into a comprehensive university with complete disciplines of arts, science, engineering, business, law and medicine. In 1952, after the adjustment of the nationwide universities, it became a multi-disciplinary university with engineering as its main subject. In 1960, it was identified as a national key university. After the reform and opening-up, the university has gone through comprehensive recovery adjustment and reform construction, becoming a university with engineering-oriented and multi-disciplinary coordinated development. In 1998, it was approved as a key university under the national "211 Project". In 2000, the former Chongqing Jianzhu University, Chongqing Architecture College and Chongqing University merged to form the new Chongqing University. In 2001, it became a key university of "985 Project". In 2017, it was selected into the national "world-class universities (Class A)", and in 2022, it was selected into the second round of "double-first-class" universities. The development of the university has entered a new historical stage, and it is making unremitting efforts towards the goal of running a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.

The university has a complete range of disciplines, covering 11 disciplines: science, engineering, economics, management, law, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, education and art. There are 7 divisions, 35 colleges, and 7 affiliated hospitals. There are more than 5,300 faculty members and more than 50,000 students, including more than 24,000 graduate students and more than 26,000 undergraduates. The campus covers an area of more than 5300 mu, including Campus A, Campus B, Campus C, Huxi Campus and Liangjiang Campus.