It was founded in 2010 and is named after Azim Premji, an Indian businessman and philanthropist who was chairman of Wipro Limited.

It includes a library, seminar halls, amphitheatre, outdoor playfields and indoor sports complex.

Like the other Azim Premji Schools, it is free of cost and welcomes children from disadvantaged backgrounds while being open to all.

The university has a number of diploma programmes and certificate courses on subject areas such as Research for Social Action, Exploring Sustainability in the Indian context, Mapping and Geographical Information Systems using Quantum GIS, Perspectives on Public Education System, etc.

The emphasis of the research is on contributing to practice on the ground in India's vast social sector and on high-quality academic scholarship in the areas of development, education, public policy, governance, sustainability, and equity.

The university has a Research Funding Programme supported by the Foundation to strengthen and supplement existing efforts in these areas.

Set up in 2019, the centre uses research, education, and sustainability actions to address the challenges of climate change.

The report published on 17 November 2024, uses two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios—“moderate emissions and adaptation” (SSP2-4.5) and “high emissions with heavy fossil fuel reliance” (SSP5-8.5)—to extrapolate “how extreme weather events, like heat waves, droughts, and intense rainfall, could affect communities, agriculture, and natural resources”.

Established in 2017, the centre aims at generating and supporting research in the areas of job creation, employment, and sustainable livelihoods.

SWI 2019 put together four policy papers to examine the possibilities for employment creation through an urban job guarantee programme and universal basic services provisioning while demonstrating the scope for fiscal expansion and the imperative need for a well-articulated industrial policy.

A few notable faculty names: Azim Premji University publications, available online and in print, are all focussed on promoting dialogue among school teachers, practitioners and educationists on current discourses and perspectives on education, classroom pedagogy, research and on-ground experiences.

[19] Pathshala Bheetar aur Baahar is a quarterly publication in Hindi that explores issues of confluence in education and society.

The belief that led to this initiative is that the availability of quality resources in Indian languages will support students to engage more deeply and thoroughly with concepts and ideas in higher education.

The archive covers books in all languages and all school subjects that have been written and/or published in the Indian Subcontinent – India and neighbouring South Asian countries.