Northwest University started in 1902 as the University of Shaanxi and the college for officials (Shi Xue Guan) of the intensive training division of the Imperial University of Peking. Known as Northwest University since 1912, it is directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education as a comprehensive university and a national Project 211 development university.

NWU has three campuses: the Taibai campus, the Taoyuan campus and the Chang'an campus. They cover a total area of more than 1,573,000 square meters, or approximately 400 acres, and comprise 23 schools and departments, plus a graduate school, and with a total of 86 undergraduate degree programs. Currently the university is authorized to confer doctoral degrees in 24 first-tier disciplines, master's degrees in 37 first-tier disciplines, and professional programs in 14 categories. NWU has developed one first-tier national key discipline (covering five second-tier disciplines), four second-tier national key disciplines, one national key discipline under cultivation and 22 post-doctoral programs. Moreover, NWU houses one national key laboratory, one national research center for engineering & technology, three national bases for international scientific & technological cooperation, two bases for the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (aka Plan 111), 1 national demonstration base for innovative talent cultivation, and three national & local joint engineering research centers.

Among the university's 2740-strong faculty there are three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, ten double employed academicians (professors), one academician of the International Academy of the History of Science, 20 experts in the Changjiang Scholars Program, 12 winners of the national Ten Thousand Talents Program, nine winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, nine winners for the Excellent Young Scientists Fund, 14 winners for the national New Century Talents Project, and four Nationally Outstanding Teachers. There are more than 25,000 full-time students, more than 13,000 of whom are full-time undergraduate students; more than 8,000 are graduate students, and more than 900 are international students.

The university attaches great importance to external technological and cultural exchanges, and has established friendly partnerships with more than 100 universities and scientific research institutions from more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan.