Chongqing Medical  University (CQMU), originally known as Chongqing Medical College, was founded in  1956, growing out of Shanghai First Medical College (the present Shanghai  Medical College of Fudan University). The university is located in the city of  Chongqing, which is the economic center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze  River and the newest municipality directly under the administration of the  Central Government. With more than fifty years' development, CQMU has become a  key university under the administration of Chongqing Municipal Government with  an integrated educational system of Bachelor's, Master's, Doctor's and Postdoctoral programs in medicine as well as other related fields.

The university covers an  area of 2.79 million square meters, with a building area of more than 1.4  million square meters. The university is  composed of two campuses, Yuzhong campus in downtown area and Jingyun campus,  which is under construction, in the 'city of universities' of Chongqing. The  total assets of the university amount to 5.06 billion RMB, among which the  equipments and facilities for teaching, research and medical services are worth  983 million RMB. The library has a collection of 1.32 million books.

The university has 4 affiliated hospitals directly under its  administration, which are all rated as 'Upper First-class Hospitals' in China.  There are more than 5,000 beds in the hospitals. The annual outpatient visits  reach 5.54 million and the annual inpatient visits 115,000. Besides, the  university has 15 teaching hospitals and other 5 affiliated hospitals which are  not directly under its administration. Other two affiliated hospitals are now  under construction.

The  university has a staff of 5,228 personnel, of which over 300 are professors and  over 800 associate professors. Many of them enjoy the special government  allowances or have been selected into the national programs of 'Project for  Millions of Talented People', 'Project for Millions of Talented People of New  Century', 'Cheung Kong Scholar & Innovative Team Program', 'Project for New  Century Excellent Talents in Universities', 'Project for Trans-century Talents'  and 'Plan of Financial Support for Outstanding Teachers in Institutions of Higher Learning'. 

The university has 4 state key disciplines, namely Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics, Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Neurology, as well as 29 municipal key disciplines. In addition, it has two state key laboratories of Ministry of Education, one state key laboratory of Chongqing and Ministry of Education, one national engineering research center, 15 municipal key laboratories, 11 research institutes, 4 research centers and 20 research laboratories. 

The university has  been actively conducting international exchanges and cooperation. So far, it has  established relationships with more than 20 countries and regions in the world  for staff training, exchange of students, academic  exchanges and scientific research, such as the United States, Britain, Canada,  Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Hong  Kong. 98 foreign medical experts have become our visiting or honorary  professors.
Since 1980's, CQMU has begun to accept medical students for  Bachelor's, Master's, Doctor's and Postdoctoral program from all over the world.  It is among the medical universities which are judged by Ministry of Education  to be qualified to enroll foreign students to learn medicine in English. It is  also listed among the Chinese medical universities in WHO's official website and  is recognized by ECFMG (Educational Committee for Foreign Medical Graduates) in  the United States.