The university was established by an Act of the Parliament in January 1998, with an All India jurisdiction to promote and develop the Urdu language and to impart vocational and technical Education in Urdu medium through conventional and distance modes.

The university has been awarded "A+" Grade by National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC).

The university's headquarter at Gachibowli houses buildings for Administration, School of Languages, Linguistics and Indology, School of Education and Training, School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Mass Communication and Journalism, School of Computer Science & Information Technology, Saiyid Hamid Library, Polytechnic, ITI, UGC-Human Resource Development Centre; Instructional Media Center; Directorate of Distance Education(DDE); Center for Women Studies; Center for Urdu Language; Literature and Culture; Center for Professional Development of Urdu Medium Teachers; Al-Beruni Centre for the study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy; H.K Sherwani Center for Deccan studies and others.The University has a satellite campus in Lucknow and a campus at Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir).

[5][6] Shri Mumtaz Ali alias Sri Madhukarnath has been appointed as the new Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad by the Visitor in his capacity as the Visitor of the University under statute 1(1) & 2 of the Statutes of the University framed under the MANUU Act effective from 17 December 2021 for a period of three years.

[9] Vice-President Hamid Ansari delivered the first Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah memorial lecture at Maulana Azad Urdu University.