The main campus of La Trobe University is situated in Melbourne on a 400-hectare parkland site encompassing a wildlife reserve.  The University has an extensive research and development park, a comprehensive library, multi-media facilities, a hospital with student medical services, and many recreational facilities.  Its regional campuses are located in Albury-Wodonga, Beechworth, Bendigo, Mildura, Mount Buller and Shepparton.

The University prides itself on the excellence of its teaching; and graduates consistently rate the quality of teaching in the University highly in the annual, independent surveys conducted by Graduate Careers Australia. It has some 24,000 students and more than 2,700 staff across five faculties: Health Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Law and Management, Science, Technology and Engineering, and Education.

The University has a strong research profile, enhanced by the presence of the Institute for Advanced Study, a residential centre for distinguished visiting overseas scholars, and a range of nationally and internationally renowned research centres and institutes, including The Research Centre for Linguistic Typology and the La Trobe University-Peking University-Beijing Foreign Studies Joint Centre for China Studies. Faculty-based research centres include the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society; the Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health; the Thesis Eleven Centre for Social Theory; and the African Studies Centre. Major water research centres are located at the Albury-Wodonga and Mildura campuses, and the Bendigo campus is home to the Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities and the Bendigo Business Recovery Centre. Enterprises within the R&D Park include a Technology Enterprise Centre; a Bioinformatics Centre of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research; a research arm of Rio Tinto Technology Development Laboratories; the training hotel of a major Chinese enterprise; the University's Graduate School of Management; the Victorian Agribusiness Centre; the CAVAL Library facility; the National Centre for Hellenic Studies & Research; the Australian-Italian Institute; and the State Environmental protection Agency.

The University is committed to internationalisation through exchanges of students and staff and its teaching, training and research programs. It has links with some 230 institutions in more than 40 countries. Teaching, training and research programs are available overseas, notably in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Japan and Bhutan.  The University has a special link with China where it offers programs (in both Mandarin and English) in public health, business, languages, linguistics, ICT and archaeology in many cities. The University presides on the International Network of Universities, through which students are able to add an international dimension to their degree programs by undertaking one or two semesters of their studies in a partner institution overseas. A scheme of support scholarships is available.