Aligarh Muslim University grew from the Madarsatul Uloom founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on 24 May 1875 and the MAO College he set up on 7 January 1877, and was established as a university in 1920, according to its facts page. Its urban campus in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, covers 467.6 hectares (1,155 acres).
The university has 13 faculties, 117 teaching departments, three academies and 21 centres and institutes, offers more than 300 courses and has 19 halls of residence. It has opened centres of study outside Aligarh at Murshidabad in West Bengal, Malappuram in Kerala and Kishanganj in Bihar, and runs schools. Its home page gives 37,113 students and 1,678 academic staff, undated, and a NAAC grade of A+.