Bangalore University was established in July 1964 as an offshoot of the University of Mysore, primarily to include institutions of Higher learning located in the metropolitan city of Bangalore and the districts of rural Bangalore, Kolar. Bangalore University has completed forty one years of fruitful existence and has come to be hailed as one of the largest universities of Asia. Though original intended to be a federal university, it has eventually emerged as an affiliating University.

Initially, the two premier colleges of the city, the Central College(CC) and the University Vivesvaraya College of Engineering formed the nucleus of the Bangalore University. Soon after the establishment of the Bangalore University, as a first step in the reorganization of courses of instructions, the University introduced Honours courses in the year 1965-66. Three-year honours courses in Botany, Chemistry, Economics, English, Geology, Kannada, Mathematics and Zoology which were conducted only at the University postgraduate departments, attracted many brilliant students. All honours-passed students were admitted to post-graduate courses on priority and B.A. and B.Sc. graduates who marginally missed admission to the postgraduate courses were given an opportunity to join the final year honours course and seek admission to post-graduate courses thereafter.

Since 1964, Bangalore University has grown both in size and strength to include a large number of affiliated colleges, P.G. Centres of research and a rich diversity of programme options. In consonance with this expansion, in 1973 the University moved into a new campus ‘Jnana Bharathi’ (JB) located on a sprawling 1,100 acres of land and shifted many of its post-graduate departments to this newly established campus. At present, the JB Campus houses the administrative office a large number of post-graduate departments, Directorates, Centres of higher learning, Gandhi Bhavan, Ambedkar Bhavan, NSS Bhavan, Outdoor Stadium and other support services.

The Central College Campus retained as the city campus houses the main examination wing with the office of Registrar Evaluation, city offices of the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Finance (Examination part), Academic Staff College, Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Distance Education Centre, Directorate of College Development Council, a few postgraduate departments and support services. Besides, the college also has the Central College Cricket Pavilion where the Karnataka State Cricket Association was first established and trained several cricketers of International repute.Since 1973, the University is functioning from both the campuses- the main campus at Jnana Bharathi and the City Campus at Central College. At present the University offers 51 Post-graduate courses.

It has 41 post-graduate departments, One post-graduate Centre at Kolar, (started during 1994-95), Three constituent college, 473 affiliated colleges ( of which 88 have PG courses) and several other Centers and Directorates of higher learning and research under its purview.

Constituent College

• The University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (U.V.C.E. started in 1917)
• The University Law College (formerly known as the Government Law College started in 1948)
• The University College of Physical Education (formerly known as the Government College of Physical Education, started in 1959) is located on the JB campus

The Central College - It is located in the heart of the city is renowned institution for advanced Education in the areas of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Commerce and Management, Communication Sciences etc., Few allied offices of the University and also some Departments are located in City campus of the University, popularly known as Central College Campus.

The following University Departments are functioning in the Central College running its post graduate courses and some of them have good facilities for advanced research.

1. Department of Apparel Technology & Management
2. Department of Chemistry
3. Department of Mathematics
4. Department of Computer Application
5. Department of Commerce
6. Canara Bank School of Management
7. Department of Communication
8. Department of Electronic Media
9. Department of Foreign Languages.

Directorate of Correspondence Courses & Distance Education - The Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Distance Education is offering courses for undergraduate, Post Graduate, P.G. Diploma and Certificate, totaling 28 courses. In addition to this, with a tie up with CBR Network courses under Rehabilitation Program are also being offered. For this particular Annual year, admissions were made for 18698 students.10,233 belong to male and 8,465 are female students. Out of the total number of 18698, 2475 belongs to SC category.324 ST category, and 433 to Category – I students. For this academic year, total percentage of results for all courses was over 60%.

Location - The university campus is about 10 kms from Railway Station/Bus Stand and three wheeler (Auto) charge is about Rs.50.00

Transportation

• Travel by air - Bangalore is accessible by air, road, and rail. Bangalore Airport is 13 km east of the City Station. There are number of daily flights to important cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Goa, Kochi, Mangalore, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. Bangalore has direct international flights to Muscat, Sharjah and Singapore. It is also a stopover for many international flights.

• Travel by bus - Bangalore has a large bus terminus, which is near the railway station. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses and buses belonging to Tamilnadu and Goa Roadways also operate from here. It is well linked to Mysore (3 hours), Hospet (9 hours), Chennai (8 hours) and Mumbai (24 hours). The KSRTC conducts a number of tours and excursions around the city.

• Travel by train - There are two railway stations in Bangalore. The main station is well connected to all major Indian cities. There are number of daily express trains from Bangalore to other cities of India.

Faculty

Academically, the university is structured into Six faculties-

1. Arts
2. Science
3. Commerce and Management
4. Education
5. Law
6. Engineering

Facilities

Gandhian Bhavan - The Centre for Gandhian Studies aims primarily at promoting research and publications on Gandhian thought. Of late, it has also been instrumental in instituting two formal courses in Gandhian Studies. It organises workshops, seminars and conferences on Gandhiji's contributions to social and economic thought and through these activities intends to spread Gandhian philosophy.

Admission for International Students - Post-Graduate Courses, M.Phil And Ph.D Courses Are Offered By B.U. The admission for these courses is very limited and is decided by the respective Departments / Faculties on the basis of a very sound academic record along with a detailed research proposal applications on the prescribed form which can also be downloaded from the University website www.bub.ernet.in

SC/ST Amelioration Cell - The University has set up of Sc/St cell and working under the guidelines of UGC to provide much more benefits and welfare to the SC/ST students of University P.G and Under Graduate Student studying in various affiliated colleges, such as providing books by setting up of SC/ST Book Bank Scheme. Almirah's to stock the books and also in the list of various visits and dimensions of the Reservation polices and providing more and more assistance particularly to this students.

Scholarships - Government of India Post-Metric Scholarships are available to students belonging to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes.

• Subject Scholarships: One for each class for the student who scored highest marks in the subject in the previous qualifying examination are available. These carry freeship exempting them from payment of tuition and lab fees only, plus a sum of Rs. 600/-p.a. and are administered by the University. Scholarships for backward classed are administered by the state Government, at the District Office for Backward Classes and Minorities, Bangalore subject to income limit.

• Government of India national Merit Scholarships for top ranking students are administered by the Director of Collegiate Education.

• Special Scholarships for Children of Government Employees/University Employees who die in harness, administered by the Director of Collegiate Education or the University as the case may be.

• Endowment Scholarships, administered by various endowments. Extract of Government Order No. SWDS BCA 95, Bangalore, Dated 01.09.1995 on raising income limit for freeships and scholarships:

• Excluding SC,ST and Category I Caste for whose income limit does not apply. For students of all other castes annual income limit for claiming exemption from payment of fees is raised from Rs.3,600 to Rs.11,000.

• Excluding category I students to whom there is no income limit, for all other Backward Classes Category IIA, IIB, IIIA and IIIB for purpose of Scholarships, the limit of annual income is raised from Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000.

USIC - The University Science Instrumentation Centre of Bangalore University was established during 1979 - 1980 with level II grade. Initially, it was located at Central College in the building housing the Vice- Chancellor's office. With the shift of Science departments to Jnana Bharathi campus, the USIC was moved to Jnana Bharathi campus in 1992 and is currently located in the Sneha Bhavan. USIC is engaged in servicing and maintenance of scientific instruments belonging to various departments. It has also developed and fabricated a number of instruments to several departments. In addition it has also conducted two refresher courses for college teachers and USIC staff of other Universities.

Railway Reservation - Fortunately for the University, the trunk railway line connecting the metro to the Mysore city, laid at the beginning of this century and which crosses the main entry gate of the University, proved to be a blessing. Also, a few metres south-west of the main entry gate was located a small reception room on the side of the railway track, known as the "Maharaja Stop", where Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV, the most benevolent monarch of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, would alight the train from Mysore and board it on his return journey, provided a strategic point for a campus railway station. At the instance of the University and after a services of dialogues, the Southern Railway authorities agreed to arrange for the halting of select trains passing that way. This flag station service has been available since 1987. Two pairs of train services halt at the University flag station, at convenient hours in the morning, through the day and in the evening. These are of the class of passenger trains on which students and staff living in the city, in the suburban area of Kengeri and nearby towns travel to and from the University campus.

Bangalore University Library - The Library is housed in a magnificent star module functional building which includes separate wings for reference section, stack rooms and reading halls, periodical section, computer centre and administrative divisions. The collection of books has now crossed 3.5 Lakhs of printed books and continues to grow at the rate exceeding 5000 titles annually. The Library also subscribes to more over 450 periodicals covering more than 45 disciplines. About 50,000 bound volumes of back issues of all important journals are organised in subject wise arrangement. The library supports the University’s rigorous programmes in Post-Graduate Education and Research.

Internet - The University Library has the facility for internet and web browsing. It also has facility for sending e-mail. Although almost all the departments of studies are provided with computer(s) facilities for internet/ web browsing and e-mail are yet to be provided.

Health Care - There are two health centre - one at the Jnana Bharathi campus and the other at the Central College campus. Health centre facilities are available to students, university employees and their dependents.

Postal Service - Ever since the Jnana Bharathi campus was established for teachers and students, this official machinery for providing basic postal services has been actively functioning on the campus. Though its is a medium-sized post office that is functioning here for over two and a half decades, it has been rendering satisfactory service.

Transport - Bangalore University has a very good net work of the buses, which are run by the BMTC on contract. As of today the University buses are plying to almost all the extensions are carry more than 3000 members everyday with its 15 routes, covering almost every nook and corner of the city. The University has its own spares vehicles, to cater to the requirement of the staff, in case of urgency and emergency.

Cafeteria and Shopping Complex - There are two catering establishments on the Jnana Bharathi Campus for the requirements of the students, staff and the teachers. One is located adjacent to Administrative block and caters to the needs of the employees and general public and the other is functioning near the Library to provide services to the students and staff. Both these canteens are run by private caterers and charge subsidised rates on refreshments and beverages, which they serve to the students and the staff. The main cafeteria is arch shaped and is provided by the University with furniture, electricity and water supply. Apart from this, there are three more catering / chat places, on the campus attached to the shopping complex where the required eatables are available at any time to the students, staff and the residents of the Campus.

To cater to the immediate requirements of day boarders and those residing on the campus, the University has made a provision for a suitable shopping complex. In addition to the day-to-day needs, the complex also houses facilities for Xeroxing, STD/ISD, and Internet browsing as well as stationery items. There is also a Fair Price Shop on the campus to cater to the daily requirements of various items of groceries, cosmetics etc, including the daily needs of the residents and the boarders of the various hostels. The HOPCOM - Government of Karnataka vegetable vendors Mobile service, visits the Campus every day for selling vegetables at reasonable rates, to the residents of the JB Campus.

Achievements

NAAC - The University has been accredited in 2001 by NAAC and has received Five Star Status.