Besides Kanpur, it also has constituent colleges (also known as campuses) in Etawah, Hardoi and Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The university caters to the needs of the farming community of 29 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

[citation needed] A small school was started in 1893 at Kanpur to provide training to revenue officers.

College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Mathura was merged with the university at that time.

It is divided into the following research sections: The university has developed and released more than 150 early maturing, high yielding, and disease/insect resistant crop varieties/hybrids of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, cotton, 29 of these in the last three years.[when?]