Inner Mongolia University, founded in 1957 as the first comprehensive university in Inner Mongolia, occupies a large campus in the eastern part of Hohhot with architecture that blends Soviet academic design — the campus was built with Soviet assistance in the late 1950s — with Mongolian ornamental elements. The campus is pleasant to walk through and gives a sense of how bilingual education actually works in Inner Mongolia: courses are taught in both Mongolian and Chinese, and the university is one of the most important centres for Mongolian language scholarship and literary preservation.
The university library holds one of the largest collections of Mongolian-language materials in China, including rare manuscripts in the traditional Mongolian script. The campus is open to visitors and there is no particular formality about walking through. The neighbourhood around the university has a good selection of cafes and inexpensive restaurants catering to students.