昭通学院是一所省属公办普通本科高校，其师范教育传统可追溯到1906年清政府创设的师范传习所，历经省立第二师范学校、昭通地区师范学校等发展阶段，1978年成立昭通师范专科学校，2012年升格为本科院校并更名为昭通学院。学校秉承“大学无疆，大人有容”的校训，形成了“崇德、敬业、务实、创新”的校风，2021年通过教育部本科教学工作合格评估，2022年被列入教育部师范教育协同提质计划重点支持院校，2023年成为云南省教育厅与昭通市人民政府共建高校。

Zhaotong University is a public undergraduate college under provincial administration, with its normal education tradition dating back to the Normal Training Institute established by the Qing government in 1906. It has gone through stages such as the Provincial Second Normal School and Zhaotong Regional Normal School, established as Zhaotong Teachers' College in 1978, and was upgraded to an undergraduate institution named Zhaotong University in 2012. Adhering to the school motto of "University Boundless, Greatness Tolerant" and fostering the school spirit of "Virtue, Dedication, Practicality, Innovation", the university passed the Undergraduate Teaching Qualification Evaluation of the Ministry of Education in 2021, was listed as a key supported university in the Normal Education Collaborative Improvement Program of the Ministry of Education in 2022, and became a university co-constructed by Yunnan Provincial Department of Education and Zhaotong Municipal People's Government in 2023.

学校现有12个教学学院、32个本科专业，面向全国十多个省市招生，全日制在校生近1.5万人。教职工近1000人，其中高级职称277人，博士和硕士学位获得者547人，拥有40余名省部级以上知名专家学者。校园占地面积800余亩，教学科研仪器设备总值1.4亿元，纸质图书100余万册，建有云南省天麻与真菌共生生物学重点实验室等多个科研平台，形成了高原特色农业、昭通文学、教师教育、红色文化四张特色办学品牌，为区域经济社会发展培养了十万余名优秀人才。

The university currently has 12 teaching colleges and 32 undergraduate majors, enrolling students from more than ten provinces and cities across the country, with nearly 15,000 full-time students. There are nearly 1,000 faculty members, including 277 with senior professional titles and 547 with doctoral or master's degrees, as well as over 40 well-known experts and scholars at or above the provincial and ministerial level. Covering an area of more than 800 mu, the campus has teaching and research equipment worth 140 million yuan and over 1 million paper books. It has established multiple scientific research platforms such as the Yunnan Key Laboratory of Gastrodia and Fungal Symbiosis Biology, forming four characteristic school-running brands: plateau characteristic agriculture, Zhaotong literature, teacher education, and red culture, and has cultivated over 100,000 outstanding talents for regional economic and social development.