The university was established as Nagarjuna University by Act 43 of 1976 of A. P. State Legislature and Governed by Act 4 of 1991 covering 6 Universities of the State. It was inaugurated on 11 September 1976 by then President of India, Sri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. It was renamed Acharya Nagarjuna University through the A.P. Universities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004, promulgated by the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. In 1976, Andhra University started a Post-Graduate Centre in Maddi called Bala Tripura Sundaramma Polytechnic, Nallapadu, Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, as an Extension Center to cater to the needs of higher education of the people of this region.[3]
P. Ramakanth Reddy I/c., (16-11-1997 to 23-9-1998)
C. V. Raghavulu (24-9-1998 to 11-10-2001)
D. Vijayanarayana Reddy (12-10-2001 to 30-11-2001)
Chandrakanth Kokate FAC (01-12-2001 to 28-4-2002)
L. Venugopal Reddy (29-4-2002 to 5-5-2005)
V. Balamohanadas (6-5-2005 to 3-5-2008)
Y. R. Haragopal Reddy (14-08-2008 to 19-06-2011)
K. V. Rao (20-06-2011 to 18-04-2015)
K. R. S. Sambasiva Rao (19-04-2015 to 11-08-2015)
B. Udaya Lakshmi (12-08-2015 to 03-12-2015)
V. S. S. Kumar (04-12-2015 to 13-01-2016)
A. Rajendra Prasad (14-01-2016 to 17-01-2019)
K. Ramji (18-01-2019 to 04-11-2019)
Rajasekhar P. (04-11-2019 to present)
University College of Engineering and Technology
A new college for engineering and technology was established at the main campus of the university[5] in 2009. This is one of many engineering colleges in the Guntur region, but it has the distinction of being the first to be managed entirely by the government. AICTE has visited the campus and completed the inspection to award grants and other recognition purposes to assess if it meets the minimum criteria.