NBU was set up in 1986 with the donations from Sir Yue-Kong Pao, the shipping magnet in Hong Kong. Mr. Deng Xiaoping inscribed the name of Ningbo University in Chinese characters “Ning Bo Da Xue” to express his best wishes for the new-born university.

In 1992, it was listed among the first batch of colleges and universities in China to admit students. In 1995, it passed the evaluation of the undergraduate education organized by the former State Education Commission (present MOE). In 1996, the former Ningbo University, Ningbo Teachers College and Zhejiang Fisheries College Ningbo Branch merged into one to become a new Ningbo University. In 2000, NBU was listed as the key university by Zhejiang Provincial Government in 2000. In 2011, the State Oceanic Administration and Ningbo Municipality agreed to jointly develop NBU. In 2012, it became a university co-funded by Zhejiang Provincial Government, the MOE and Ningbo Municipality. In 2015, it was selected as one of the first batch of key universities in Zhejiang Province. In 2017, it was approved as a “Shuang Yi Liu” university of the country.

NBU has received great support from a great many personages at home and abroad, especially Ningbo-native merchants overseas. Today's NBU has made way to the Top 100 in China in comprehensive strength.

NBU is a teaching and research-oriented university, with disciplines covering economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, and art. Consisting of 24 colleges, the university has 7 Class-A disciplines and 6 Class-B disciplines of Zhejiang. According to ESI, NBU's engineering, clinical medicine, chemistry and materials science have ranked top 1% in the world.

There are 6 primary doctoral programs, 3 post-doctoral research stations, 30 primary master programs, 23 professional master programs including engineering master program and 75 undergraduate programs.

It is entitled to exempt students from postgraduate examinations,and toenroll international students having obtained Chinese government scholarships and students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The university has established close ties with universities in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, such as the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It has also signed cooperation protocols with about 30 universities in Taiwan, such as Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan Ocean University, Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and Taiwan’s Soochow University.

The existing fixed assets total 2.22 billion yuan (or 322 million US dollars), and the instruments and equipment total 980 million yuan in worth. There is a Ningbo Branch of Zhejiang Higher Education Digital Resource Center. It has a library of total area of 51,000 square meters, with a collection of 2.51 million paper books and 2.3 million e-books. The university has got two affiliated hospitals (one under construction), 10 non-direct affiliated hospitals and 9 teaching hospitals.

Today's Ningbo University adheres to the motto of “Seeking the Truth from Facts and Putting Knowledge to Practice” and the spirit of “inclusiveness, self-improvement, pragmatic innovation, and keeping pace with the times”, pressing ahead towards the goal of becoming a research-oriented university with distinctive characteristics.