Panjab University began at Lahore in 1882 and is established under the Panjab University Act VII of 1947, enacted by the Government of India. It moved to its Chandigarh campus, designed by Pierre Jeanneret under the general guidance of Le Corbusier, during 1958 to 1960, and became an Inter-State Body Corporate after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966. It describes itself as funded by the Central and State Governments.
The campus in Sectors 14 and 25 covers almost 550 acres and holds 74 teaching and research departments, institutes and centres. The university also lists 202 affiliated and six constituent colleges across Punjab and Chandigarh, and regional centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Kauni. Its NIRF 2026 data submission reports 14,276 campus UG and PG students in 2024-25, plus 2,501 full-time and 483 part-time PhD scholars.