SCUT is located in Guangzhou which is very near Hong Kong and Macau. It has three campuses: the Wushan campus, the University Town campus, and the International Campus. The Wushan campus is located in the Tianhe District of Guangzhou. It is an attractive area with rolling hills, lakes, lush greenery, and brilliant flowers. This campus has a mixture of both traditional and modern architecture with a truly collegiate feel. The HEMC campus is located in the recently built University Town of Panyu District. It has an open and spacious environment filled with beautiful landscaping and innovative and modern architecture.

Since its establishment in 1952, SCUT has developed into a major comprehensive university that offers multiple disciplines of study including science, engineering, business, management, liberal arts, law, biomedical science, and art design. It is currently composed of 28 colleges offering 82 bachelor degree programs, 118 master degree programs, and 107 Ph.D. programs. Seven subjects—Light Industrial Technology and Engineering, Food Science and Engineering, Urban and Rural Planning, Materials Science and Engineering, Architecture, and Chemical Engineering and Technology— are ranked in the top 10 among Chinese universities. ESI ranks six disciplines in the top 1%. Material Science, Chemistry, Engineering, Agricultural Science, Physics, and Biology and Biochemistry comprise this list. Since 2012, SCUT has held a place in the top 500 of QS World University Rankings. In the 2016 QS World University Rankings, South China University of Technology was ranked in top 400 integrally, top 50 in engineering, top 100-200 in chemistry, and top 200 in Mathematics and Computer Science. US. News & World Report published 2016 Best Global Universities, and SCUT ranked 395, with Agriculture science, engineering, and chemistry ranked in 40, 41 and 69 respectively these fields.

SCUT comprises 4,555 faculty members and 43,000 full-time students. Since its founding, SCUT has graduated over 290,000 students, many of which have gone on to become technological mainstays, distinguished entrepreneurs, and leading politicians. The university has appropriately been dubbed “a cradle of engineers” and “a birthplace of entrepreneurs”.

SCUT strives to be an exceptional example for the entire international university community. It is active in academic exchange and dedicated to promoting collaboration with more than 100 overseas universities. In addition, SCUT has co-constructed three Confucius Institutes, respectively with Lancaster University in the UK; the University of Idaho in the US; and Audi AG, the municipal government of Ingolstadt and Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI) in Germany. In 2017, SCUT had 2,300 international students from 130 countries around the globe. The School of International Education (SIE) is responsible for recruiting, managing and teaching international students. In addition to both long- and short-term Chinese language and culture programs, SIE also offers degree courses like Bachelor of Arts in Chinese as a Foreign Language and Master of Journalism and Communication in the field of teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages.