Xiangtan University is one of the national key comprehensive universities which embraces natural science, technological science and social science. Standing on the beautiful bank of Xiangjiang River, Xiangtan University is located in the western suburbs of Xiangtan City, the hometown of Mao Zedong. Lying to the north of the city is the beautiful Dongting Lake and Yueyang Tower –a historical and cultural scenic spot; Standing to the south is the magnificent Hengshan Mountain – one of five well-known high mountains and great Buddhism centers in China; In the west is the world-known national forest park – Zhangjiajie.

The University has 19 colleges and departments, 63 undergraduate programs, 69 programs for Master's degree and 9 programs for Doctor's degree, 2 postdoctoral scientific research bases. It has set up a national engineering research center, an advanced computer center, an analysis and testing center, a network service center and a chemical engineering testing base, all of which are equipped with the most sophisticated facilities to aid in higher education. The University also has an extraordinary library that has a collection of over 2,093,000 volumes of books and more than 2,700 periodical both in Chinese and foreign languages. Due to these additions now the total number of students in the university has reached 32,000.

Since the inception of Xiangtan University, wide academic exchange and cooperation have been established with various universities of many countries such as Japan, USA, Russia, France, Canada and Australia. Since 1995, the university has enrolled students of different majors from many countries including USA, Japan, France, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, and Malaysia etc.