Guru Nanak Dev University was established at Amritsar on November 24, 1969 to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is both a residential and an affiliating university. In conceiving the future course of the University, the objectives enshrined in the Guru Nanak Dev University Act 1969, emphasised that the new University would make provision for imparting education and promoting research in the humanities, learned professions, sciences, especially of applied nature and technology

University Grants Commission has granted “Category One” status to Guru Nanak Dev University, the only university to get this elite status in the region of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Ours is a premier university of North India with a score of 3.51 on 4.00 scale of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (accredited at highest level i.e. A++ as per the new modified criteria) and it has also been conferred with the status of “University with Potential for Excellence” by UGC.

GNDU is among Top Ten “High Performing State Public Universities” across India by MHRD. GNDU is continuously improving its NIRF ranking for consecutive last four years by securing 51st positions in NIRF ranking in 2020. GNDU has increased its H- Index from 63rd position in 2017 to 107th position in 2020. The WEEK- Hansa Research Best University survey 2019 has placed Guru Nanak Dev University at 7th rank in North Zone Multi-Disciplinary Universities and at 14th rank in All India Multi-Disciplinary Universities. GNDU has bagged 11th Rank in the State Universities of India in the “India Today Ranking-2020”. GNDU ranked 17th in India, announced by India Today (MDRA) survey 2019. GNDU has been placed amongst the top 10 State Public Universities of the country and among top 9% Universities of the world by Centre for World University Ranking (CWUR). Guru Nanak Dev University has been tracked by Nature Index amongst top four institutions in Punjab and top 10 institutions in North India.