The university was established in November 1973. It was renamed Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in 1989 in commemoration of the memory of a leading statesman Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. In 2009, Garhwal University was declared a Central University pursuant to the Central Universities Act.[3]
Campus
The university is a residential cum affiliating institution of higher learning. It has jurisdiction over seven districts of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Its headquarters are at Srinagar, 112.9 km (70.2 mi) from Rishikesh along the Delhi-Mana National Highway. The university has three campuses: Birla Campus, Srinagar Garhwal with its extension at Chauras Campus, B. Gopal Reddy Campus, Pauri and Swami Ram Teerth (SRT) Campus, Badshahithaul, Tehri.[4] In addition, there are 121 colleges and institutes affiliated to it, spreading over seven districts of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. The university offers undergraduate, post-graduate and research programmes in several various disciplines. Besides conventional courses under different streams of studies, the University has introduced some regionally relevant courses that are of greater significance for the mountainous areas.
Birla Campus – located at Srinagar (Garhwal) bisected into the Main Campus and the Chauras Campus by river Alaknanda. These campuses are 4.2 km (2.6 mi)apart.
B. Gopal Reddy Campus – on mountain slopes at Pauri (Garhwal), 30 km (19 mi) from Srinagar (Garhwal) and 105.4 km (65.5 mi) from Kotdwar, the nearest railway station
The Student Apex Body is the group of student leaders presiding over all the student unions of the colleges that are affiliated to HNB Garhwal University. The members of the apex body are elected by an indirect election amongst the university representatives coming from each college. There are about 161 colleges affiliated to HNB Garhwal University.
Student Union in HNBGU University Campuses are directly elected by voting of students reading here.