The school has two campuses, Donghai and Nanshan. There are 11 secondary colleges, including Engineering College, Business College, Humanities College, Chemical Engineering and Technology College, Materials Science and Engineering College, Textile Science and Engineering College, Health College, Conservatory of Music, Aviation College, Marxism College and Applied Technology and Training College, including 46 departments (departments and centers), with 53 undergraduate majors and 42 specialist majors.

Yantai Nanshan College is a full-time undergraduate college invested by Nanshan Holdings, a top 5 enterprise in China, and approved by the Ministry of Education.

The school was founded in 1988. It was approved by the Ministry of Education as a full-time undergraduate college in 25. In 215, it passed the qualification assessment of undergraduate teaching by the Ministry of Education. In 217, it was identified by the Shandong Provincial People's Government as a project training and construction unit for granting master's degrees. In 219, it was approved by the Shandong Provincial Department of Education to jointly train master's students with Qingdao University of Science and Technology.