The history of the University goes back to the colonial period. In 1893, a small school of started to impart training to revenue officers. Gradually this school grew into a full-fledged Government Agriculture College in 1906. After independence, in 1969 this college was renamed as the Uttar Pradesh Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Finally, in 1975 it got its present name Chandrashekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology. The University was merged with two constituent colleges namely, Government Agriculture College in Kanpur and the Uttar Pradesh College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry in Mathura.

The University now has three faculties, The Faculties of Agriculture and Home Science at Kanpur and the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Etawah. The territorial jurisdiction of the University extends to twenty-eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, which are spread over six divisions. The Faculty of Agriculture offers one graduate course, thirteen programmes at the postgraduate level and thirteen doctorate programmes. The various courses taught here are Agronomy, Agricultural Biochemistry, Agricultural Extension, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Crop Physiology, Entomology, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Horticulture, Plant Pathology, Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural Economics, Soil Conservation and Water Management and Seed Technology. The Faculty of Home Science started it journey under the Faculty of Agriculture but later became a separated to become an independent faculty.

The various departments under this faculty are Child and Human Development, Clothing and Textile, Food Science and Nutrition, Family Resource Management and Extension Education and Communication Management. The various departments under the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology are Production Engineering, Soil Water Conservation Engineering, Farm Machinery Power Engineering, Post Harvest, Process and Food Engineering, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

The Kanpur campus is located in the northwest of the Kanpur Central railway station at a distance of 8.4 kilometers. The Etawah Campus is situated on N H 2 and is at a distance of 2 kilometers from the Etawah Railway Station. Both the campuses are well connected by roadways.