合肥大学是一所定位于“改革中诞生、开放中成长、创新中发展”的省市共建、以市为主导的全日制公办本科院校，其前身是1980年创办的合肥联合大学，由新中国放射化学奠基人、中国科学技术大学副校长杨承宗先生任首任校长，创办伊始即实行本科招生。2002年，经教育部批准，与合肥教育学院、合肥师范学校合并为合肥学院。2023年11月30日，教育部正式同意合肥学院更名为合肥大学。

Hefei University is a full-time public undergraduate institution jointly built by the province and the city, with the city as the leading force. It is positioned as "born in reform, growing in opening up, and developing in innovation". Its predecessor was Hefei Union University founded in 1980, with Mr. Yang Chengzong, the founder of radiochemistry in New China and vice president of the University of Science and Technology of China, as the first president. Undergraduate enrollment was implemented at the very beginning of its establishment. In 2002, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, it merged with Hefei Institute of Education and Hefei Normal School to form Hefei University. On November 30, 2023, the Ministry of Education officially approved the renaming of Hefei University to Hefei University.

学校秉承“厚德、博学、善思、致用”校训，坚持“地方性、应用型、国际化”办学定位，是全国应用型本科高校专门委员会指导单位、长三角地区应用型本科高校联盟领导单位。学校抓住国家教学成果奖一等奖2项、第四届全国教育改革创新特别奖，产出中国应用型本科高校第一方阵“排头兵”。2015年10月30日，中德两国总理共同视察学校，李克强强调：“合肥学院30年来的发展积淀是中德务实合作的支柱”，默克尔称赞学校是“中德近30年合作的光辉典范”。

Adhering to the school motto of "Virtue, Erudition, Reflection, and Application", the university adheres to the school-running orientation of "locality, application, and internationalization". It is a guiding unit of the National Specialized Committee for Application-oriented Undergraduate Colleges and a leading unit of the Yangtze River Delta Application-oriented Undergraduate Colleges Alliance. The university has won 2 first prizes of the National Teaching Achievement Award and the Special Award for National Education Reform and Innovation in the 4th session, becoming a "pacesetter" in the first echelon of China's application-oriented undergraduate universities. On October 30, 2015, the premiers of China and Germany inspected the university together. Li Keqiang emphasized that "the development accumulation of Hefei University over the past 30 years is the pillar of China-Germany practical cooperation", and Merkel praised the university as "a brilliant example of China-Germany cooperation in the past 30 years".

学校坚持以生为本，着力建设有特色的应用型人才培养体系。近5年主动对接安徽新能源汽车、集成电路等战略性新兴产业，新增智能制造工程等9个新专业，改造36个传统专业，停招撤销23个与市场脱节的专业。深入开展专业、就业、产业“三业一体”人才培养模式改革，积极探索“双元制”教育本土化实施路径，与大众集团、大陆集团等单位开展合作，实施校企“大陆班”“大众班”“轨道班”“精工班”等“双元制”合作项目，《中国教育报》头版作专题报道。

The university adheres to student-oriented education and strives to build a distinctive application-oriented talent training system. In the past five years, it has actively connected with strategic emerging industries such as new energy vehicles and integrated circuits in Anhui Province, adding 9 new majors such as intelligent manufacturing engineering, transforming 36 traditional majors, and stopping or canceling 23 majors that are out of touch with the market. It has deeply carried out the reform of the "three-in-one" talent training model of major, employment, and industry, actively explored the localized implementation path of "dual system" education, cooperated with Volkswagen Group, Continental Group and other units, and implemented "dual system" cooperation projects such as school-enterprise "Continental Class", "Volkswagen Class", "Rail Class", and "Seiko Class". The front page of China Education Daily made a special report.

截至2023年12月，学校有专任教师1041人，其中博士占比35.8%、高级职称占比46.49%，“双能型”占比63.2%；设有17个教学单位，开设76个本科专业，学科专业涵盖工、经、管、文、理、教育、艺术7大学科门类；拥有一级学科硕士学位授权点2个、专业硕士学位授权点11个，省部级以上重点学科3个，高峰培育学科建设点2个。同德国、台湾地区的72所大学建立了合作关系，先后有4100余名学生赴国外友好学校学习、2100余名国外学生来校学习交流。

As of December 2023, the university has 1,041 full-time teachers, among whom 35.8% have doctoral degrees, 46.49% have senior professional titles, and 63.2% are "double-capable" teachers; it has 17 teaching units, offering 76 undergraduate majors covering 7 disciplines including engineering, economics, management, literature, science, education, and art; it has 2 first-level discipline master's degree authorization points, 11 professional master's degree authorization points, 3 key disciplines above the provincial and ministerial level, and 2 peak discipline cultivation points. It has established cooperative relations with 72 universities in Germany and Taiwan, with more than 4,100 students studying in foreign friendly schools and more than 2,100 foreign students coming to study and exchange.