Southwest University is a key comprehensive university directly under the Ministry of Education, jointly built by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Chongqing Municipal Government. It is one of the first batch of "Double First Class" universities, as well as being part of the "211 Project" and the "Advantageous Disciplines Innovation Platform of 985 Project".

The university offers a complete range of academic disciplines, encompassing 12 categories: Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine, Management and Arts. Among these, there are 3 national key disciplines and 2 national key (cultivation) disciplines. Currently, there are 46 teaching units and 102 undergraduate majors, including 62 national-level first-class undergraduate program construction points and 81 Chongqing municipal-level first-class undergraduate program construction points.

The university houses 1 national key laboratory, 1 national engineering and technology research center, 1 national-local joint engineering laboratory, 1 national field scientific observation and research station, 1 provincial and ministerial co-constructed national key laboratory cultivation base, 1 international science and technology cooperation base, 10 key laboratories designated by the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 2 engineering research centers designated by the Ministry of Education, 2 field scientific observation and test stations designated by the Ministry of Education, 2 scientific observation experiment stations designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 2 field bases designated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, 1 key laboratory (co-constructed) by the State Administration for Market Regulation, and 1 key laboratory (co-constructed) by the National Medical Products Administration.

The university focuses on leveraging its own strengths to serve national strategies and promote local economic and social development. It actively engages in campus-community cooperation, targeted poverty alleviation and paired assistance work. It also promotes internationalization by establishing long-term friendly cooperation relationships with more than 200 universities and research institutions in over 40 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia and Russia.