Kyambogo University was established in 2003 by the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001 by merging Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK), the Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo (ITEK), and the Uganda Nationalstitute of Special Education (UNISE).

[4] The school moved to Nakawa and became the Kampala Technical Institute.

ITEK started as a government teacher training college in 1948 at Nyakasura, Kabarole District.

In 1954, it transferred to Kyambogo Hill as a national teachers’ college and later became ITEK by statute of parliament in 1989.

The university campus is located on Kyambogo Hill, approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi), by road, east of the central business district of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.