The new HUST was established on May 26, 2000 after merging with the former HUST, Tongji Medical University and Wuhan Urban Construction Institute.

HUST ranks at the top of China's leading universities in comprehensive strength . In the University, there are eleven faculties including philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, agriculture, science, engineering, medicine and management. It offers a variety of programs, including 75 undergraduate programs, 200 Master's programs, 139 doctoral programs and 22 post-doctoral research centers. It has 4 national leading laboratories, 4 national engineering research centers and 12 leading laboratories with ministerial or provincial level. It has more than 13,000 staff members, of whom 16 are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & the Chinese Academy of Engineering, over 600 are doctoral supervisors and more than 900 are professors. The full time resident students are over 50,000, of whom over 34,000 are undergraduates and more than 17,000 are postgraduates.