Established with the idea of actualizing Swami Vivekananda's vision of education, the institute is administered by the Ramakrishna Mission.

The university provides courses on subjects as varied as rural and tribal development, disability management and special education, fundamental science education and Indian cultural and spiritual heritage.

[4] It was declared as a de novo Deemed University by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 2005.

In the following year, three new branches were added at Narendrapur, Ranchi and Kolkata (at Simla – the ancestral residence of Swami Vivekananda, currently operating under the Belur main campus).

[5] Since then, two new schools have been established in the main campus, namely the School of Mathematical Sciences (focusing on mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science), and the School of Indian Heritage (including Sanskrit studies, ancient Indian heritage and Vedanta, especially the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita).