Jiangnan University is directly under the Ministry of education, the key construction University of China's "211 Project" and the Construction University of double first-class disciplines. The school has a long history and profound cultural accumulation. It originates from Sanjiang normal school founded in 1902 and has gone through the development periods of National Central University and Nanjing University; In 1958, the Department of food industry of Nanjing Institute of technology moved eastward to Wuxi to establish Wuxi Institute of light industry; In 1995, it was renamed Wuxi University of light industry; In 2001, Wuxi Light Industry University, Jiangnan University and Wuxi Institute of education merged to form Jiangnan University; In 2003, the Wuxi campus of Donghua University was merged into Jiangnan University.
Adhering to the socialist direction of running a school, the university carries out independent running of schools and the construction of modern university system in accordance with the articles of association of Jiangnan University. With the motto of "be diligent in learning and practice, and stop at the best", the school takes "highlight the characteristics of light industry, serve the national economy and the people's livelihood; innovate the training mode and cultivate the backbone of the industry" as the school running philosophy, and takes building a "world-famous, China's first-class and Jiangnan style research university" as the strategic goal, the school deeply promotes the education and teaching reform, continuously improves the school running level, and focuses on talent training, scientific research Great progress has been made in social services, cultural inheritance and innovation, international exchanges and cooperation, and a high-level university with distinctive characteristics has been gradually built with reasonable scale and structure, coordinated development of disciplines, excellent teaching quality, remarkable school running efficiency, high social reputation, domestic influence and international popularity.