Kazi Nazrul University

Kazi Nazrul University (KNU) is a public state research university located in Asansol, West Bengal. The CM Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone on 10 January 2013. The university has been named after the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. The university was established under the Kazi Nazrul University Act, 2012. Anuradha Mukherjee was appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the university. In 2018 in a special convocation the university honored Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina with honorary Doctorate of Literature.

Governance
In June 2023 Governor of West Bengal, as chancellor of universities, appointed Debashis Bandyopadhyay new interim vice chancellor of the university.

Jurisdiction
The university is an affiliating institution and has jurisdiction over the colleges of the Paschim Bardhaman district.

Faculties
Kazi Nazrul University has 19 departments organized into four faculty councils.

Schools

 * School of Health Science and Technology
 * School of Management
 * School of Mines And Metallurgy

In 2016 CM Mamata Banerjee gave clearance to set up Institute for Mines, Minerals and Metallurgic Sciences in Asansol under Kazi Nazrul University, now the university offers courses like Diploma, B.Tech., B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD. 7 acres of plot has been allotted for institute campus. The School of Mines And Metallurgy consists of the Department Of Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering (Data Science).

Admission

 * For UG & PG:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Good marks in the higher secondary (10+2) and graduation (10+2+3) levels are necessary for admission in the undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the university.
 * For B.Tech:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Admission through Centralized Counselling based on WBJEE rank conducted by West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board and time to time notification issued by Department of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal. also students can admitted through Joint Entrance for Lateral Entry (JELET) exam conducted by West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board in lateral entry in 2nd year (3rd semester) of the four-year course of bachelor's degree in technology.
 * For MCA:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Admission through Centralized Counselling based on JECA rank conducted by West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board in 2 years of Master of Computer Application (MCA) course.

Research
In May 2015 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Nazrul Research Centre would be established at the university, it's been a long pending demand from poet's family.

Libraries
The Central Library of Kazi Nazrul University was established in 2013. It is located in a convenient place on the ground floor of the vidyacharya building. The books are classified according to the Dewey decimal classification. All books are barcoded. Students of affiliated colleges are also be able to enter the central library. The collection of books includes documents on a wide range of topics such as Bengali literature, English literature, pure science, art, history and social sciences, language, etc. The university library has a valuable collection of more than 20,000 books.

Publishing
In 2022, the university started to publish the journal Nazrul Journal.

Rankings
Kazi Nazrul University was ranked 65th among the academic institutions in India by the Nature Index in 2023.

Accreditation and recognition
In July 2019, the university was given membership of the Association of Indian Universities.

The University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) accorded recognition to the university in terms of Section 12B of the U.G.C. Act, in 2019.

In September 2021, the university has been awarded Grade B with a CGPA of 2.1 by the NAAC.

Controversies
The university suddenly suspended giving Nazrul award, also in year of 2022 state body discontinued the award in the poet's name.

In May 2023, a teacher was accused of raping a Bangladeshi student on the promise of marriage. The victim student made this allegation against a professor of the Bengali department of the same university. The female student from Rangpur, Bangladesh, is a postgraduate student of Bengali department of the university. A few months ago, the woman student kazi Nazrul Islam informed the university authorities and Asansol Women Police Station about the incident. Though several days have passed, there has been no resolution. The victim then approached the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission at Kolkata in the hope of justice. She also filed a written complaint against the professor at Durgapur Women's Police Station on May 10. The girl also lodged a complaint with the state women's commission. Based on that complaint, the Women's Commission launched an investigation.