Burdwan University was established by the West Bengal government as a teaching and affiliating university on 15 June 1960 with six graduate departments and thirty undergraduate colleges spread over five districts that come under the jurisdiction of the university. Bardhaman, Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and Hooghly (except Srirampur) are covered under the jurisdiction. Thirty graduate programmes are offered by the university. One hundred and thirty nine colleges are affiliated to this university. It has been awarded four stars by the NAAC.

History of Burdwan University
The last maharaja of Burdwan, Uday Chand Mahtab left the entire property of Burdwan to the West Bengal government after the zamindari system ended in the 1950s.Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then chief minister of took the initiative of establishing a university there. Initially it began its function with the humanities division only. The science subjects were included later on.

Course offered at University of Burdwan
Some of the undergraduate courses include:

# Bachelor of Information Technology
# Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering
# 5-year Integrated B.A. LL.B.(Hons.)
# Bachelor of Arts Education
# Bachelor of Physical Education
# B.A. (Hons) in Nutrition
# B.A. Hons in Rabindra Sangit
# B.A.(Hons) in Arabic - 3 Years
# B.A.(Hons) in French - 3 Years
# B.A.(Hons) in Persian - 3 Years
# B.A.(Hons) in Sanskrit - 3 Years
# B.A.(Hons) in Urdu - 3 Years
# B.B.A. (Hons)
# B.B.A. (Hons) in Tourism and Hospitality
# B.C.A. (Hons)
# B.Com. with Major in Advertising, Sales Promotion & Practice
# B.Com. with Major in Office Management & Secretarial Practice
# B.Com. with Major in Tax Procedure & Practice
# B.Sc. with Major in Environment & Water Management
# B.Sc. with Major in Industrial Fish & Fisheries
# B.Sc. with Major in Seed Technology
# B.Sc. with Major in Sericulture
# B.Sc.(Hons) in Bioinformatics
# Bachelor of Physiotherapy

Post Graduate (science) programmes include:
Biotechnology, Botany, Education, Mathematics, Chemistry, Microbiology, Statistics, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Geography, Zoology, Physics.
Post Graduate (arts, commerce and other subjects) programmes include:
Bengali, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Foreign Language, Business Administration, Business Administration (Human Resource), Tourism Management, History, Economics, Commerce, Mass Communication, Library and Information Science, Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy, Law.

University also offers post graduate distance education.

University Institute of Technology (UIT)
University Institute of Technology (UIT) is a professional engineering college under Burdwan University. It was inaugurated in 2001 and is approved by the government of West Bengal and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Courses offered here include:
Bachelor of Civil Engineering
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Bachelor of Applied Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering
Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering
Bachelor of Electronics & Communication Engineering
Bachelor of Information Technology