Founded in 1993, Shenzhen Polytechnic (SZPT), the predecessor of Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU), is one of the first colleges in China to independently organize higher vocational and technical education. Since its establishment, all the staff and students of Shenzhen Polytechnic have been pioneering and forging ahead with hard work, and constantly innovating the teaching philosophy, school-running system and talent training models, thereby keeping the first position in many areas in China's higher vocational education.

In 2006, Shenzhen Polytechnic (SZPT) joined the UNESCO-UNEVOC Network, the first worldwide network dedicated to TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) coordinated by UNESCO-UNEVOC. Now it is one of nearly 260 UNEVOC Centres in the world. In response to the national strategy of "Going Global", SZPT has actively engaged in mutual learning in TVET through the various forms of cooperation, institutional mechanisms and platforms afforded by UNESCO-UNEVOC, being one of the most active UNEVOC Centre in East and Southeast Asia.

In April 2017, with the consent of UNESCO, the Secretariat of National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO approved the establishment of the "Research and Training Centre for the UNESCO Asia-Africa TVET Project" at SZPT. It is intended to foster cross-border research and international collaboration in the field of TVET within the UNESCO frameworks for partnerships, aiming to jointly build up the capacity of TVET practitioners and promote TVET development in the global community, especially in Asia-Africa TVET community.

In 2022, the UNESCO Chair on Digitalization in TVET was approved at Shenzhen Polytechnic.

In 2023, Shenzhen Polytechnic was designated as a University by the Chinese Ministry of Education, formally named Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU).