The university has four faculties covering health and social care; business; arts and human sciences; and engineering, science and the built environment.

At the end of 2009 it opened K2, a new sustainable teaching building which houses the training and demonstrating Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB).The building also houses skills laboratories for the University's nursing studients. Further campus developments include a new Student Centre, due to open late 2012, followed by an Enterprise Centre in 2013.

The British painter David Bomberg taught Art at the Borough Polytechnic between 1945 and 1954. One of the university's halls of residence, David Bomberg House, carries his name and a handful of his works are on display at the University. Major paintings by Bomberg were acquired by the Tate Gallery after his death.

The University's main campus is close to many of London's major landmarks and tourist attractions on the South Bank and in easy reach of overground trains, the London Underground and many bus routes.

LSBU works in partnership with many institutions in the UK, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. It currently works closely with a number of Chinese Higher Education Institutions, including Beijing Institute of Technology, Hunan University, Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Northwestern Polytechnical University, National Academy of Education Administration etc. The collaborative educational programmes both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels have been running for over ten years with the Chinese partners.

LSBU is the first university sponsored by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to establish a Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine in London

The 2010 DLHE survey of destination of leavers in higher education concluded that London South Bank University has improved in many important areas. These include: LSBU's ‘employment indicator’ for full-time undergraduate students has improved from 74.4% to 82.4%. Overall unemployment has fallen from 12.9% to 9.8%. All other measures except for ‘part-time other undergraduate’ (HND, HNC, Foundation Degree etc.) have also improved.

London South Bank University has ranked as 6th in the UK for graduate starting salaries. In 2013, The Guardian's league table of teaching excellence ranked the University 113th out of 119 British institutions.The Sunday Times' league table, measuring a number of different factors including teaching quality, research quality and employment rates, ranks the University 115th out of 122.