# Kurukshetra University

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KUK) is a university established on 11 January 1956 in Kurukshetra, in the Indian state of Haryana, 160 kilometres (99 mi) from the capital, Delhi. It is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities.

## History

The university was in 1956 as a unitary residential University. The Department of Sanskrit was the only department in the university when it was inaugurated by Bharat Ratna Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Indian Republic. The idea of establishing the university was conceived by then governor of Punjab, Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, a Sanskrit scholar.
In 2012, the Department of philosophy introduced an academic course on Gita.

## Campus

Spread over 473 acres (1.91 km$^2$), the KUK campus is located on the western bank of Brahma Sarovar in the Hindu holy city of Kurukshetra.

## Faculties

Faculty of Arts & Languages
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Life Sciences
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Indic Studies
Faculty of Engg. & Technology
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Commerce & Management

## Institution
### Centre of excellence (CoE)

* Centre of excellence for research on Saraswati river: Geoscientific research on palaeochannels & drainage basin
* Centre for advance research in earthquake studies: Seismic hazard map and 24x7 seismic monitoring of Haryana
* Centre for applied biology in environment sciences: Research on climate change and pollution
* Centre for information technology and automation: Research on big data and business analytics
* Centre for advanced material research: Ion beam centre to research on functional molecules, optical materials and nanostructures

### Departments / Institutes / Centres

The university has 10 faculties and 49 Departments / institutes / Schools:
* Institute of Integrated and Honors Studies (Formerly University College)
* Institute of Teachers Training & Research
* Department of Chemistry
* Institute of Indic Studies
* Department of Life Sciences
* Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
* Department of Arts and Languages
* Department of Foreign Languages
* Department of Physics
* Department of Statistics
* Department of Geology
* Institute of Environmental studies
* Department of Law
* Department of Geophysics
* University School of Management
* University Institute of Engineering and Technology
* Institute of Management Studies
* Institute of Mass Communication & Media Technology
* Centre for Distance & Online Education
* University Senior Secondary Model School

### Affiliated colleges

Its jurisdiction extends over 7 districts -Ambala, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Panipat, Yamunanagar.
The university has 290 affiliated colleges and institutes.

## Rankings

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked the university between 201-300 in the engineering rankings in 2024.

## Achievements
### Academic

The Department of Electronic Science in 2011, was awarded a ₹2.96 crore (US$350,000) project on nanoscience by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

### Sports

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra has a number of achievements in sports. In 2015 the Boxing Team of Kurukshetra University won the All India Inter-University Boxing Championship among more than 100 Universities from all over India. All India Inter-University Boxing Championship was held at LPU, Jalandhar. Boxers from KUK won 3 Gold and 3 Bronze Medals under their boxing coach Rajesh Kumar Rajound. The university has been awarded Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy, representing the highest award given for inter-university sports and university sportsperson performance in international and national arena by the Government of India, in the year 1966–1967.

## Notable alumni

* K. K. Aggarwal
* Vishva Nath Attri
* Satish Babu
* Suraj Bhan
* Ajay Singh Chautala
* Sunil Dabas
* Bhim S. Dahiya
* Pema Dhondup
* Ramakant Goswami
* Rajendra Gupta
* Zakir Hussain (Haryana politician)
* Sunil Jaglan
* Virender Singh Kadian
* Naresh Kamboj
* Surya Kant (judge)
* Rattan Lal Kataria
* Amolak Rattan Kohli
* Nand Lal (academic)
* Anu Singh Lather
* Ishan Kumar Patro
* Dalel Singh Ror
* Jagjit Singh
* Mamta Sodha
* Naveen Soni
* Tankeshwar Kumar