The School of Mongolian Studies was set up in November 2001 as an integration of a Mongolian language and literature department, a Mongolian language and literature research institute and a Mongolian Institute of history (institute of religious studies). The department was founded in 1952 for junior college education and was upgraded for undergraduate education in 1959. It began to recruit graduate students in 1978. In 1981, the department's Chinese ethnic groups' language and literature discipline was among the first group of departments having the right to confer master's degrees.

In order to get adjusted to the new developments in Mongolian Studies, the Institute of Mongolian Language and Literature was set up in 1979. In August 2000, the department of Mongolian language and literature of the former Inner Mongolia Education College was merged into the institute, injecting new vitality to the studies on Chinese ethnic minority languages and literature at IMNU.

The school consists of the Department of Mongolian Language and Literature, the Mongolian and Chinese Bilingual Department, and the Department of Journalism, as well as the Institute of Mongolian Language and Literature, which has four research offices – the Modern Mongolian Language Research Office, the Literature Research Office of Secret History of Mongolia, the Mongolian Literature Research Office, and the Research Office for Mongolian Folk Literature and Folkloristics. In addition, the school is home to four IMNU research institutes: the Institute of Ancient Literature on Mongolian Studies, the Institute of Asian National Studies, the Institute of Mongolian Linguistics, and the Institute of Literature and Art.

The school offers full-time master's programs in Chinese Ethnic Minority Languages and Literature, Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, Theories of Literature and Art, World Literature and Comparative Literature, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Chinese Classical Philology, Curriculum and Pedagogy, alongside the Master of Education (M.Ed.) program. The school's Chinese Ethnic Minority Languages and Literature program was listed as one of Inner Mongolia's priority disciplines in 1986, and one of the region's top programs in 2005.

Besides, it has formed cooperative ties in education and research with universities and research institutes in Mongolia, Japan, Russia and the UK.

Over the past 60 years, the school's academic research focusing on Chinese ethnic minority languages and literature has been constantly expanding to new fields, advancing its Mongolian studies to new levels. It is now one of China’s three major research institutions for Mongolian studies.