Equipped with top academic capability and creative spirit, Nankai University has a well-balanced faculty team in terms of age and specialty. Among the 1,993 faculty members, there are 888 doctoral supervisors, 997 master's supervisors, 711 professors and 797 associate professors, 8 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 5 academicians of The Third World Academy of Science, 15 members of the Subject Assessment Division of the Degree Appraisal Committee of the State Council, 12 nationally accredited experts who have made outstanding contributions, 38 chair professors and 16 lecture professors invited on the Yangtze River Scholar Award program, 39 recipients of the National Outstanding Talent Foundation, 13 recipients of Excellent Young Teachers Prizes supported by the Ministry of Education, 21 winners of the Cross Century Talents Foundation under the Ministry of Education, 22 teachers selected by the national Millions of Talents Program, 8 teachers awarded by the Ministry of Education with the honor of Outstanding College Lecturer and 8 nationally famous masters of higher education.

Nankai University has a fully-fledged education system for producing undergraduates, postgraduates on master's and doctoral programs and post-doctoral researchers. Currently, the university has a total enrollment of 24,950 students, including 13,517 undergraduate students, 8,129 master's candidates, 3,304 doctoral candidates, 2,048 foreign students, 1,059 part-time adult students and 42,445 students on distance education programs.

Nankai University is a center for both education and academic research. A large number of academic achievements have been made and acknowledged at home and abroad. Since 2007, Nankai University has won 3 National Second Prizes in natural sciences, 1 National Second Prize for science and technology progress, 1 National Second Prize for technology invention, 7 National teaching achievements, 35 National Excellent Courses. Besides, 10 projects won awards for science and technology progress in Tianjin. In 2014, Nankai published 1,432 SCI index articles, 822 EI index articles and 98 CPCI-S index conference papers. The number of good performance articles reached 661. The proportion of good performance SCI index articles rose to 46.16% and it ranked in the top two among Chinese universities.

Nankai University actively takes advantage of disciplines, technology, talents and information to enhance the industrialization and commercialization of research serving the national and local economies and social development. Some research institutes like the China APEC Institute and the School of Economic & Social Development have become the Think Tank and Talents Cradle for central and local governments. According to national needs, and in pursuit of a first-class world position, Nankai comprehensively implemented the strategy of innovation-driven development and actively promotes the construction of all kinds of collaborative innovation centers, setting up close cooperative relationships with a group of colleges and universities, enterprises, research institutes and government departments.

Nankai University focuses on students' all-round capability and creativity in teaching and education. Under its educational philosophy of art to regulate the country, science to strengthen it and business to enrich it, the university leaders advocate a teaching guideline of paying attention to quality education, cultivating capability, consolidating knowledge foundations, widening disciplinary spheres, and strictly administrating and ensuring high quality. It has established a complete educational system by connecting class teaching, scientific experiments, academic activities and social practice. A flexible educational system has been set up, including a system of credits, a system of major plus minor education and double degrees. The late Premier Zhou Enlai, Nankai's prominent alumnus, has been the model for all students to form a healthy disposition with high morality, the spirit of creativity and practical capability. The university is well known for its healthy environment. By attaching great importance to students' overall development in virtue, intelligence, sport and art, the university has successfully created a colorful campus cultural atmosphere of elegance and aspiration for the benefit of students' healthy growth. As a result, being equipped with strong basic knowledge, all-round capability, creativity and practical ability, graduates from Nankai University are extraordinarily popular with employers from all fields. To build Nankai's characteristics of public will in an all-round quality education system and promote the all-round development of students, Nankai University has established and implemented the Nankai University Quality Education Implementation Summary (2011-2015).

Nankai University has developed broad international communications by establishing exchange and collaborative relationships with more than 320 international universities and academic institutions. Nankai University has been contracted to establish 8 Confucius Institutes overseas including one at Maryland University in the US. In both 2012 and 2015, Nankai has become an Advanced Sino-Cooperation Academy of the Confucius Institute. Nankai undertakes the task of offering Chinese language training to foreign countries, and has launched a number of high-level study abroad programs, including the Oxford Program, participation in the Davos World University Leaders Forum, and selection by Hanban as one of the first universities to participate in the new international Sinology research plan. Nankai University collaborates with Glasgow University and has established the NKU-UoG Joint Graduate School.

Nankai University has awarded 10 international celebrities the title of Honorary Doctor, including the mathematician Shiing-shen Chern, the physician Ta-you Wu, the economist Myrdal, former President of the Straits Exchange Foundation Jiang Bingkun, and chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, former Singapore president Tan Keng Yam. Nobel Laureates Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee, Samuel Chao Chung Ting, Robert A. Mundell, Reinhard Selton, former President of Korea Kim Dae Jung, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France and former prime minister Laurent Fabius, Chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab and famous writer Jin Yong have all been conferred Honorary Professors of Nankai University. Many other world-renowned scholars and entrepreneurs have been invited as Visiting Professors.

The university will continue to carry forward the character of Nankai, develop its spirit, persist in giving top priority to cultivating the integrity of students, strengthen its quality, vigorously implement the six strategies of reinvigorating the school through human resource development, building strong disciplines, improving educational quality, research and innovation, serving for Binhai Area and internationalization, and developing towards the goal of building a world-leading university.