The university grants bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees across 27 colleges and departments and 98 undergraduate majors.

In the winter of 1927, the authorities invited scientist and educator Ma Junwu, a native of Guilin, Guangxi, to return to his homeland and help found the first modern university in the province.

In October 1928, Guangxi University was established on Butterfly Mountain in the Hexi District of Wuzhou.

[2] University operations were briefly suspended from 1929 to 1931 due to armed conflict in Guangxi and the neighboring Guizhou region.

[3] During this temporary relocation, the university decided to continue its educational mission with a particular focus on nearby ethnic minority populations in Guangxi and southwest Guizhou provinces, including the Zhuang and Miao peoples.

[3] With the surrender of Japan in September 1945, National Guangxi University moved back to its home province, temporarily taking up residence at a campus by the Lijiang river in Liuzhou.

In early 1946, the student body initiated a movement that brought the university back to its original campus on Butterfly Mountain in Wuzhou.

[2] At the beginning of 1952, Chairman Mao Zedong personally inscribed the name "Guangxi University" in Chinese calligraphy.

[1] The year 1953 marked the beginning of a period of reorganization, dissolution, and eventual suspension of Guangxi University.

That year, the nascent People's Republic of China began an unprecedented reorganization of Chinese higher education institutions on a national scale, with the goal of expanding access to higher education through the establishment of new colleges and universities.

[1] In the reallocation, a large portion of Guangxi University faculty, students, and equipment were sent away to 19 newly created institutions across central and southwestern China.

On October 17, 1953, a total of 53 professors across the departments of history, foreign language, physics, chemistry, and mathematics, as well as 256 professors and instructors of the College of Teacher Education were separated from the university to form the new Guangxi Teacher's College (now Guangxi Normal University).

Having sacrificed the majority of its faculty and students, the remnants of Guangxi University discontinued operations.

The depleted university entered a dormant stage until 1958, awaiting reconstruction of its faculty and student body.

In 1958, the Central People's Government approved a plan to reconstruct and reopen Guangxi University at a new campus in Nanning.