Qingdao Binhai University was founded in 1992 and became one of the first two private undergraduate universities in Shandong Province in 2005. In 2009, the university obtained the qualification to confer bachelor's degrees. In 2017, it was designated as a Master's Degree Awarding Project Cultivation and Construction Unit in Shandong Province. In 2024, it was identified as a Master's Degree Awarding Project Construction Unit, and in 2025, it became a Precise Cultivation Unit for Master's Degree Awarding in Shandong Province. Since 2019, the university has jointly trained master's degree students with Qingdao University, Shandong University of Science and Technology, and University of Jinan. In 2013, it was included in the pilot universities for strategic reform of applied technical universities by the Ministry of Education. In 2014, it became a featured university of private undergraduate higher education in Shandong Province. In 2021, it was recognized as an Experimental University for the Recitation and Creation of Chinese Classical Poetry by the Ministry of Education, and also as a Supported Unit for the Construction of Applied Undergraduate Universities in Shandong Province.

The university has established 14 secondary colleges, including the School of Marxism, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Junior College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Finance and Economics, Faculty of Education, School of Foreign Languages and International Cooperation, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (School of Intelligent Manufacturing), School of Information Engineering (School of Software), School of Civil Engineering, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Business, School of Hotel Management, and School of Art and Media. The university offers 50 undergraduate programs covering seven academic disciplines: Economics, Education, Literature, Engineering, Medicine, Management, and Arts. Currently, there are more than 25,000 full-time students enrolled, including over 50 international students. Over the past 32 years, the university has trained more than 138,000 graduates.

The university is located in Qingdao West Coast New District, covering an area of 1250 mu, consisting of Xiaozhushan Campus, Dazhushan Campus and Affiliated Hospital, forming a synergistic development of two campuses and one affiliated hospital. The total building area of the school is nearly 1.1 million square meters. The total value of teaching instruments and equipment is 302 million yuan. There are 4 libraries, with a total area of 60822.84 square meters, a collection of 2.814 million paper documents, 12.032 million digital resources such as e-books and e-journals, and 6,852 reading seats. It has 2 characteristic laboratories of Shandong higher schools, 1 engineering technology R&D center of Shandong higher schools, 1 teaching and research base of Shandong province, 1 language and writing promotion base of Shandong province, 2 experimental teaching demonstration centers of Shandong province, 1 engineering research center of Qingdao city and 1 collaborative innovation center of Qingdao city for marine engineering technology, 2 research centers approved by Shandong province civil affairs department, and 2 experimental (practice) centers of university physics, electrical and electronic, Mass Media, 16 experimental (practice) teaching centers and 219 on- and off-campus internship and training bases. Including, nursing and other professional training base - 13,500 square meters of maternal and child care training center; 2 hotel management professional training base - 43,000 square meters of international academic exchange center (Zhushan Hotel) and 41,000 square meters of the affiliated hospital international academic exchange center (R&R). International Academic Exchange Center of Affiliated Hospital (Runsheng Hotel); training base of Integrated Education (Special Education Direction) - 23,000 square meters of Shanyu Hall; training base of Rehabilitation Therapy - 23,000 square meters of Affiliated Hospital's Recreation Building; and comprehensive training base - National AAA Training Center for Maternal and Infant Nursing. The training base is a national AAAA-class tourist attraction, the 14,000-square-meter World Museum of Animal Nature and Ecology; and there is also an internship base for medical education, the 1,800-bed, third-class standard Affiliated Hospital.

There are 1526 full-time teachers in the university, of which 92.14% have master's and doctoral degrees, 39.58% have senior titles, and there are 9 foreign teachers. There are 2 foreign academicians, 3 special experts of Taishan Scholars of Shandong Province, 5 young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions, 4 people enjoying the State Council's special government subsidies, 1 winner of the National “May 1st Labor Medal”, 1 national excellent teacher, 13 provincial teaching masters and excellent teachers, 13 municipal teaching masters and excellent teachers. Awarded the Shandong Province universities and colleges Huang Dainian-style teacher team 1, Shandong Province, Shandong Province advantageous disciplines talent team, Shandong Province, 5 youth innovation team, Shandong Province, Philosophy and Social Sciences, 2 young talent team, school and enterprise joint application of R & D team 4. Teachers in Shandong Province won 11 first prizes, 22 second prizes and 29 third prizes in the Youth Teaching Competition, Teaching Innovation Competition, Curriculum Civics and Art Basic Skills Competition, etc. One of them was selected as a finalist of the National Youth Teaching Competition and won the third prize, and was awarded the “May 1 Labor Medal” of the provincial education system; a team won the first prize of the Provincial and the third prize of the National Competition in the first Teaching Innovation Competition of Colleges and Universities in Shandong Province. A team won the first prize in the first university teaching innovation competition in the provincial competition and the third prize in the national competition.

The university adheres to the internationalization running philosophy of “open education, living and strengthening the university”, implements the project of opening up the university, and successively carries out teacher-student exchanges and cooperative school running programs with more than 140 universities and scientific research institutes in 40 countries such as Russia, the United States, South Korea, and Japan, as well as in Taiwan, etc. More than 270 foreign experts have been hired to give lectures at the university. It has hired more than 270 foreign experts to teach at the university, sent more than 70 teachers to study abroad, dispatched more than 3,000 students to study abroad, and selected and sent nearly 100 Chinese language volunteers to work abroad; it has received more than 1,800 long-term students from nearly 30 countries.