Yan 'an university is the first comprehensive university named by comrade MAO zedong and founded by the communist party of China. Now it is a university jointly built by shaanxi provincial people's government and the ministry of education, a high-level university in shaanxi province and an enrollment college in shaanxi province.

In 1941, the political bureau of the communist party of China central committee decided to merge the northern shaanxi public school, China women's university and zidong youth cadre school into yan 'an university, with wu yuzhang as the President. After that, the yan 'an lu xun academy of arts and literature, the academy of natural sciences, the college of nationalities and so on were merged into. 1947 some teachers and students of yan 'an university went to northeast China, north China and northwest China to run schools. In July 1958, the people's government of shaanxi province decided to rebuild yan 'an university. In 1998, yan 'an medical college, yan 'an people's hospital and yan 'an university were merged to form the new yan 'an university. In 2005, the people's government of shaanxi province and the ministry of education jointly established yan 'an university. In 2011, the university was listed as a high-level construction university in shaanxi province.

Since its founding more than 80 years ago, the development of the school has been highly valued and cared for by the party and state leaders and all walks of life. In 1944, MAO zedong and zhu DE attended the opening ceremony of yan 'an university and delivered an important speech after the eight universities of yan 'an university were merged. In April 1966, deng xiaoping and li fuchun visited yan 'an and met some teachers and students. In October 1998, jiang zemin personally wrote an inscription for the 60th anniversary of yan 'an university: "educate people with the spirit of yan 'an, and bring up talents for rejuvenating the country through science and education". On May 24, 2004, hu jintao made important instructions on the construction of yan 'an university, asking all parties to "jointly support the success of yan 'an university". On September 19, 2017, 80 in yan 'an university anniversary, xi jinping, general secretary of the important instructions, fully affirmed the yanan university's educational philosophy and educational achievement, encourage our "beginner's mind, never forget to move on, to carry forward yan 'an spirit, the courage to reform the innovation, the university has a glorious history by more features, more levels." In the new era, the graduates of yan 'an university are all over the old areas of northern shaanxi and all over the country, especially playing a special role in promoting the economic and social development of the old areas of northern shaanxi.