Han University can be traced back to Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang in late 1893, who invited the Qing government to establish a school of self-improvement. After inheritance and evolution, it was named National Wuhan University in 1928, which was the first batch of national universities in modern China. In 1946, the school has formed a running pattern of six colleges: arts, law, science, engineering, agriculture and medicine. After the founding of New China, Wuhan University was highly valued by the Party and the government. In 1958, President Mao Zedong visited Wuhan University. In 1993, on the occasion of the centenary celebration of Wuhan University, Jiang Zemin and other party and state leaders wrote inscriptions to congratulate. Since the reform and opening-up, Wuhan University has taken the lead in carrying out education and teaching reform among domestic universities, with vigorous development of various undertakings and obvious increase in overall strength. In 1999, the world's authoritative journal Science magazine listed Wuhan University as "one of the most outstanding universities in China". In 2000, Wuhan University merged with Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping and Hubei Medical University to form a new Wuhan University, which opened a brand-new page in the reform and development of the university. Over the past 20 years, the comprehensive strength and core competitiveness of the school have been continuously improved. In 2022, THE school ranked 157th in the Times Higher Education (The) World University Ranking, 101st-150th in the academic ranking of world universities of Soft Science, and 194th in the QS World University Ranking, an international educational research institution.

Looking back on the past, we have made great efforts to make progress. Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Chen Tanqiu and Luo Ronghuan were here to give directions. Gu Hongming, Zhu Kezhen, Li Siguang, Wen Yiduo, Yu Dafu, Ye Shengtao, Li Da, etc. once inspired writing here. Over the past 100 years, Wuhan University has gathered many wonderful chapters in the modern history of the Chinese nation, formed an excellent revolutionary tradition, accumulated a rich humanistic heritage, and cultivated the university spirit of "self-improvement, loyalty, seeking truth and innovation".