Gauhati University is based at Gopinath Bardoloi Nagar, Jalukbari, in Guwahati, Assam. It was incorporated by an Act of 1947 and started functioning on 26 January 1948 as an affiliating, teaching and residential university, with 18 affiliated colleges and eight postgraduate departments. Its website describes it as the oldest university in Northeast India.
The university says it now has 39 postgraduate departments, besides its centre for distance and online education (GUCDOE) and a constituent law college, and more than 300 affiliated colleges teaching in arts, science, commerce, law and engineering. Its NIRF 2026 data submission reports 5,268 students in campus UG and PG programmes in 2024-25, plus 937 full-time and 172 part-time PhD scholars. NAAC has graded it A+.