Shantou University is a comprehensive university established with the approval of the State Council in 1981. It has received the support of well-known patriots and internationally renowned entrepreneurs, Mr. Li Ka-shing. The support of the Li Ka-shing Foundation for Shantou University is over HK$10 billion. At present, Shantou University is a university co-founded by the Ministry of Education, Guangdong Province and the Li Ka-shing Foundation. It is also the only public university in the world continuously funded by the Li Ka-shing Foundation, a private foundation. The school is a patriotic education base in Guangdong Province. It covers an area of 1888.70 Mu and has a construction area of 568,800 square meters (including gymnasiums, medical schools, residential colleges and other projects).

Shantou University has the Faculty of Literature, Science, Engineering, Medical College, Law School, Business School, Yangtze Art and Design College, Yangtze Journalism and Communication College. It is aimed at recruiting doctoral, master and undergraduate students nationwide (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). There are 1602 faculty members and 10294 full-time students, and 100,000 talents have been trained for the society.

Shantou University has one national key discipline, five post-doctoral research mobile stations, three doctoral degree authorization points for first-level disciplines, 14 master degree authorization points for first-level disciplines, including the coverage of first-level disciplines. There are 39 doctoral degree authorization points for second-level disciplines and 103 master degree authorization points for second-level disciplines in our university. There are 11 authorization points for master's degree. There are 8 key disciplines in Guangdong Province (one of them is basic mathematics; four are dominant disciplines: chemistry, mechanical design and theory, clinical medicine and basic medicine); three are characteristic key disciplines: marine biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, pharmacology); one is the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education; six are the key laboratories of Guangdong Province; and three are the international scientific and technological cooperation bases of Guangdong Province. There are three key laboratories in Universities of Guangdong Province, three key laboratories in the Department of Health of Guangdong Province, one platform for scientific and technological innovation in key industries of Guangdong Province, five engineering and technical research centers in Guangdong Province, four demonstration bases for the integration of production, teaching and research in Universities of Guangdong Province, three engineering and technical research centers in Universities of Guangdong Province, six platforms for international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan cooperation and innovation in Universities of Guangdong Province, and six humanities and Social Sciences in Universities of Guangdong Province. Two key research bases, one experimental teaching demonstration center of the Ministry of Education (national level), 15 experimental teaching demonstration centers of Guangdong Province, two experimental areas of innovation of personnel training mode of the Ministry of Education in 2007, 10 experimental areas of innovation of personnel training mode of provincial level, and seven national specialty construction points (business administration, art design, law, clinical medicine, mechanical design and manufacturing and their own). There are 11 provincial specialty construction points, 4 top-quality courses of the Ministry of Education (national level), 2 Bilingual Teaching Demonstration Courses of the Ministry of Education (national level), 1 teaching team of the Ministry of Education (national level), 4 famous specialties of Guangdong Province (electronic information engineering, computer science and technology, clinical medicine, business administration). Guangdong Province attaches great importance to them. Two specialties (clinical medicine and civil engineering) are offered, and seven-year undergraduate and postgraduate clinical medicine specialty is offered, thus forming a complete talent training system from undergraduate to doctoral students.

The school has built a number of scientific research institutions which can not only carry out basic scientific research but also directly serve the local economic construction. They include the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology of the Ministry of Education, the National Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, the Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, the Key Laboratory of Digital Signal and Image Processing Technology, the Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, and the Key Laboratory Key Laboratory of Structure and Wind Tunnel, Institute of Local Government Development, Guangdong-Taiwan Enterprise Cooperation Research Institute, etc. The library implements the computerized management in an all-round way, and devotes itself to the construction of modern digital library. There are 15759,900 books available, and the digital resources amount to 14424,254,000 B, of which 46091 GB is electronic books. The school campus network was built in 1990. With the special investment of 211 Project construction, the campus network has been extended to every building in the school. Students can directly access the Internet from the dormitory. Medical College has five affiliated hospitals and three trusteeship hospitals, with 5523 beds. The First Affiliated Hospital has been awarded "National Top 100 Hospital" and "Third Class A" hospitals, which provide good medical practice opportunities for medical students. The experimental equipment of teaching and scientific research in the whole university is in the advanced level of domestic universities.

With the support of Li Ka-shing Foundation, the school has actively expanded academic exchanges and cooperation, and the international level of running schools has been rapidly improved. At present, the school has established close academic exchanges and cooperative relations with 56 universities in 16 countries and regions such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Ireland, and has formulated and implemented exchange programs for undergraduates and postgraduates. In December 2016, the Guangdong Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), co-founded by Shantou University and Israel Institute of Technology, was officially established with the approval of the Ministry of Education.

Focusing on the goal of "ambitious, knowledgeable, persistent and promising" education, the school adheres to student-oriented, carries out the reform of university management system and the innovation of personnel training mode, and plans to carry out the most forward-looking life science teaching courses in the newly-established medical colleges. Since 2001, with the support of the Li Ka-shing Foundation, the school has launched an Internationalization-oriented reform project in an all-round way, employing foreigners as executive principals and deans, and exploring all-round educational reform with exemplary significance in curriculum, teaching, resource management and personnel system. Many of the reform experiences have been affirmed, supported and promoted by the state, and have been accepted by Li Lanqing. Comrades highly praise it as "the experimental field for the reform of Chinese universities". Since 2009, Shantou University has taken the construction of advanced undergraduate education system as the core, actively explored innovative, internationalized and refined undergraduate talent training mode, and promoted the pilot process of comprehensive reform of independent running schools.

In 2012, the Ministry of Education, Guangdong Province and Li Jiacheng Foundation decided to jointly build Shantou University, to support Shantou University to continue to deepen its reform and to build an advanced and internationally renowned high-level university. In 2015, Shantou University carried out the reform of the "four courtyards, two departments" system, reorganized the functions of the Party and government in the school, and actively explored the construction of a school management system and operation mechanism with service as the core concept, integration of institutional functions and efficient operation of the mechanism.

After more than 30 years of efforts, Shantou University has created a good environment for cultivating high-quality innovative talents and laid a good foundation for sustainable development. Shantou University will strive to build a high-level university with modern university's high-quality management system and excellent education, as well as domestic advanced and internationally renowned universities.