The foundation stone for Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC) was laid on 6 August 1960,[3] at Surathkal.

KREC began with three under-graduate courses in engineering: Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil, with affiliation to the University of Mysore.

On 26 June 2002, it was elevated to the status of a National Institute of Technology and has been called NIT Karnataka (NITK) ever since.

From 2017, admission is through the ranks based solely on the JEE (mains) test; the marks in the class 12 board exams serves as a cut off.

Postgraduate students are required to complete coursework in addition to a thesis or dissertation that entails independent research under the guidance of a faculty.

[23] Research in the institute is mainly sponsored by central and state government agencies with grants for the academic year reaching ₹10 crore (US$1.2 million).

The centre will pursue advanced research in the areas relevant to the future technological and programmatic needs of the Indian space programme.

[24][25][26] Being primarily a residential institution along with Surathkal beach less than a kilometre (0.62 mi) away, a unique culture has developed over the 50 years of NITK's existence.

Students involve in technical activities, as well as cultural events supported by one of the many student-run clubs and organizations on campus.

An open-air theatre called Student Activity Center is the venue for most of the music performances and movie screenings.

Students teams representing the year of their study compete in literary, personality, art and music competitions.

It also has clubs like IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), ISTE (Indian Society for Technical Education) and ACM (Association of Computer Machinery), which are included in the syllabus as well for better understanding.

There are non-technical clubs like Rotaract (affiliated to the Rotary International), which help create social awareness and initiate campus drives.

[citation needed] Held over four days, the festival includes events from dance and dramatics to music, painting, fashion and quizzing.

Some of the recent performances includes the likes of Vishal-Shekhar, Local Train, Amaal Malik, Kenny Sebastian, Rahul Subrahmanian, Raghu Dixit, Salim Sulaiman and many other celebrities.

Guest speakers at Video conferences include Richard Stallman, Bjarne Stroustrup, Sam Pitroda, Dr. Devi Shetty, Sir Anthony James Leggett, Kevin Warwick, and Tim Poston.

NITK hosted its first TEDx conference[29] during Engineer 2011, and many influential speakers of the region were invited to talk on socially relevant issues.

The much-awaited inter-year sports festival 'Phoenix' is organized during the even semester where students battle for gold, silver and bronze medals, and the overall shield.

[38] Some notable startups founded by recently graduated alumni of NITK Surathkal are Practo, Delhivery, Nestaway, DriveU, Taxi For Sure, Chai Point, Simplilearn, BHIVE, Travelyaari, Pinkvilla.