Jawaharlal Nehru University was constituted under the Jawaharlal Nehru University Act, 1966, came into existence on 22 April 1969 and was inaugurated on 14 November 1969 by President V. V. Giri, according to its about page. Its residential campus covers about 1,000 acres of the Aravali hills in New Delhi.
The university was conceived mainly for postgraduate teaching and research, and its basic academic units are multidisciplinary schools rather than single subject departments. It has thirteen schools and nine special centres. Its NIRF 2026 data submission reported 1,345 undergraduate, 3,176 postgraduate and 3,286 full time PhD students for 2024-25. The about page says international students form nearly 15 per cent of the annual intake.