Kannur University was set up in the year in 1996 under the Act 22 ,1996 of Kerala Legislative Assembly. Previously it was known as Malabar University. The University was given the responsibility to spread higher education in Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad Districts of the state. The University has several campuses.The main campus is situated at Mangattuparamba in the Kannur District.Other campuses are located in different places like Kasargod, mananthavady, payyannur, Thalassery and kanhangad.

The University has several departments to provide advance knowledge in Arts & humanities and Science and Technology. These are School of English & Foreign Languages, Department of Studies in English School of Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology School of Life Sciences, Department of Biotechnology & Microbiology School of Management Studies, Department of Management Studies School of Information Science & Technology, Department of Information Technology School of Development Studies, Department of Applied Economics School of Legal Studies, Department of Law School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Department of Physical Education School of Chemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry School of Pure and Applied Physics, Department of Physics School of Visual and Fine Arts, Department of Music School of Pedagogical Sciences School of Indian Languages Department of Geography School of Health Sciences.

There are over 70 colleges affiliated to the University. In 2002 the University started its Distance education programme. The library of that University contains a huge number of books, which support research works in Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, English, History, Statistics, Philosophy, Mathematics, Political Science, Sociology & Economics.