Kakatiya University was established on 19th August, 1976 to fulfil the aspirations of the Telangana people for higher education. The founding of the University was in fact a historic event in the sense that heralded a new era in the realms of higher education of this region. The erstwhile Post-Graduate Centre of Osmania University was upgraded and named Kakatiya University. The development of the University over the years has been gradual but impressive. The University was initially accredited with B+ grade by the NAAC in 2002 and reaccredited with A grade in 2008. The University situated in a sprawling area of about 650 acres, has now 24 departments in four colleges on the campus with a network of eleven constituent colleges and 471 affiliated colleges. It has its Post-graduate Colleges at Subedari (Hanamkonda), Nirmal, Karimnagar, Godavarikhani, Khammam and Kothagudem in addtion to University Engineering College at Kothgudem.
The University is now offering programmes in Engineering, Pharmacy, Law, Computer Science, Business Management, Education, Science, Arts, Commerce, Oriental courses in the University, constituent and affiliated colleges. In addition, the School of Distance Learning and Continuing Education (SDLCE) is offering a large number of programmes through distance mode.
The University is vibrant with research activities carrying out the projects sponsored by various funding agencies. The Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, has identified the Departments of Botany, Chemistry and Pharmacy under FIST while the University Grants Commission is supporting the Departments of Chemistry, Botany, Pharmacy, Economics, Telugu and Public Administration under its DRS and SAP.