The Bombay legislature of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency established the Karnataka University through the Karnataka University Act 1949. On 1st March 1950 it became a statutory University. The jurisdiction of the University covers Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bijapur, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Uttar Kannada districts. The university was recognized with the "Potential for Excellence" by UGC (University Grants Commission of India). It is the second oldest in Karnataka.

Faculties of Karnataka University
Currently, the university has three faculties: arts, science and Social Science. Initially Medical Science and Engineering were part of this faculty. The Government of Karnataka established Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru and Karnataka for Medical Science and Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, Karnataka for engineering.

Departments of Karnataka University
Art departments
* Institute of Kannada Studies
* Department of Folklore
* Department of English
* Department of Sanskrit
* Department of Foreign Languages
* Department of Hindi
* Department of Marathi
* Department of Yoga Studies
* Department of Music
* Department of Kannada Research Institute

Science departments
* Department of Applied Genetics
* Department of Electronic
* Department of Botany
* Department of Chemistry
* Department of Geology
* Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology
* Department of Mathematics
* Department of Physics
* Department of Statistics
* Department of Sericulture
* Department of Library Science
* Department of Zoology
* Department of Marine Biology
* Center for Excellence in Polymer Science
* Research Center for DNA Diagnostics

Social science departments
* Department of Sociology
* Political Science Department
* Department of Economics
* Department of Political Science
* Department of Commerce
* Department of Gandhian Studies
* Department of A.I. History & Epigraphy
* Department of Law
* Department of Education
* Department of Anthropology
* Department of Geography
* Department of Criminology & Forensic Science
* Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
* Department of Philosophy
* Department of Psychology
* Department of Social Work
* Research Centre for Women`s Studies
* Department of Sports

Department of Management Studies
* Kousali Institute of Management Studies