Taiyuan University, formerly known as Taiyuan College, was founded in 1984 and approved as a full-time general undergraduate college by the Ministry of Education in April 2013. In September 2014, Taiyuan Foreign Language Normal College and the Education College of Taiyuan University were merged into the university. The university is under the leadership of the Shanxi Provincial People's Government and the Taiyuan City People's Government as well as the Shanxi Provincial Education Department.

It is located in the central part of Taiyuan Educational Park, which is adjacent to the Taiyuan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Taiyuan High-tech Development Zone, Jinzhong Industrial Zone, Wusu Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Shanxi Science and Technology Innovation New Town. The location is also at the convergence of Taiyuan and Jinzhong, giving it distinctive regional advantages.

The university is equipped with excellent infrastructure and operating conditions. At present, it covers 87.2 hectares. The planned land for the new campus reaches 121.9 hectares. It divides its total area into new, old, northern and central school campuses. The building area of the school is 344,700 square meters. The total value of teaching and scientific research instruments and equipment reaches 71.35 million yuan, and more than 1.25 million books are collected in the library.

There are 853 teachers in the university, including 3 experts enjoying the subsidiary of the State Council, 28 professors, 271 teachers with associate senior titles, 25 with PhD degrees and 632 with master’s degrees. There are 18 departments, 4 teaching departments (ideological and political department, English teaching department, P.E. department and basic course department), and one teaching center (computer center), of which 17 departments undertake the education of undergraduate students. The university has 66 majors including 28 designed for undergraduate students and 38 for specialized degrees (including 26 enrollment majors). The courses provided by the university cover engineering, science, literature, economics, management, art, agriculture and other disciplines. The college enrolls students from more than 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. At present, there are 15,715 students studying in the university.