North-Eastern Hill University was set up by an Act of Parliament and notified on 19th July 1973. The objectives of the University, as laid down in the act, are "to disseminate and advance knowledge by providing instructional and research facilities in such branches of learning as it may deem fit; to pay special attention to the improvement of the social and economic conditions and welfare of the people of the hill areas of the North-eastern region, and in particular, the intellectual, academic and cultural advancement".
In 2005, following the shifting of the departments to the Permanent Campus at Umshing, Mayurbhanj Compex at Nongthymmai was disposed off to the Government of Meghalaya. At the moment, barring a few Centres located at Bijni Compex, almost all departments of the University are housed in the buildings on the permanent campus. We now have Internet connectivity through our own VSAT to which all the departments located on the campus are linked. Efforts are on to enhance the range of our Internet connectivity. The telecommunication department has set up a fully automated telephone exchange on the campus. This is first of its kind in any University in the region. Much of the developmental work on the campus in the past couple of years or so has been made possible by the generous grant that the University has received from the Government of India from its "non-lapsable pool".
It is hoped that in about another couple of years or so, the University would have developed sufficient infrastructure facilities for all its Centres (presently located at Bijni Complex) to move into permanent locations in the campus. The University has also allowed, with the permission of the Government of Meghalaya, the Department of Tourism to set up an Institute of Hotel Management, Indira Gandhi National University and the Indian Council of Social Science Research to set up their regional centres on its land. The Sports Authority of India has also been given permission to create modern sporting facilities in the University. Thus, in the very near future, the campus will grow into a suitably diverse, but coherent, University Township. It has also the potential of being a University of striking scenic beauty.
At present there are fifty-three undergraduate colleges affiliated to the University including eight professional colleges. The University Central Library whose membership includes university and college teachers, postgraduate and undergraduate honours students and members of the non- teaching staff has a collection of close to 2,00,000 books, 38,000 bound periodicals and it subscribes to 316 foreign and 366 Indian current journals.

Our students have done well in life after leaving the University. Many have been taken into the Central Civil Services, Banking Services and into the University System. Several have been awarded scholarships and fellowships by both national and foreign organisations. The percentage of our students clearing the NET, GATE and other national tests is quite high. The number of students turning for their Master's degrees and research students working for their M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees is close to 1700. The undergraduate colleges affiliated to the University enrol about 18,000 students. Our faculty strength is just over 300.

In a short span of about 30 years NEHU has matured into an institution with a serious academic and social and cultural agenda and a clear vision for its future growth.
These details are retrieved from www.nehu.ac.in