重庆大学
Li was born into a rural family; he once served as a commune cadre in 1975. In 1978, he entered the Mining Engineering Department, Chongqing University, and was appointed as the party secretary of the department after he graduated in 1982. From June 1989, he trained at UC Berkeley for 3 years. In 1993, he received his doctor's degree in engineering from Chongqing University. Then he served as a visiting scholar at UQ from March to August 1996. Li later served as the dean of College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, from 1994 to 1998. He served as the president of Chongqing University from 2003 to 2010, and the president of Wuhan University from 2010 to 2016.