Utkal University was established in 1943 and is the oldest university in Odisha. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. There are at present 27 masters departments at the university campus for studies and research in various disciplines of Science, Humanities, Business administration, Social science, Law, and Commerce.

It is the largest affiliating university in India with 267 affiliated general colleges, 15 law colleges, 6 medical and pharmacy colleges.

It has the jurisdiction over 9 districts, viz, Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri

Courses
• The Post Graduate Courses offered are:
o Analytical & Applied Economics
o Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology
o Anthropology
o Bio-technology
o Botany
o Chemistry
o Commerce
o English
o Geography
o Geology
o History
o Law
o Lib. & Inf. Science
o Mathematics
o Odia
o PM & IR,
o Physics
o Political Science
o Pub. Administration
o Sanskrit
o Sociology
o Statistics
o Zoology

• The Sponsored Courses are:
o 3 years Executive MBA
o M.Sc. in Applied Micro-biology
o M.Sc. in Environmental Science
o M.A. In Women Studies
o P.G. Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS
o Master of Fishery Science
o Development Journalism & Electronic Communication
o Integrated MBA

Notable Alumni
• Professor Biswajeet Pattanayak, Founder and Director Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar
• Gopal Ballav Pattanaik, ex. Chief Justice of India
• T. K. Chand, Chairman cum Managing Director of National Aluminium Company
• Hara Prasad Mishra, biochemist based in USA
• Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Odisha and the former Governor of Assam
• Jayanti Patnaik, member of parliament, author and editor
• Kumkum Mohanty, Odishi dancer and winner of Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi award
• Madhu Sudan Kanungo, scientist in gerontology and neuro-science and winner of Padmashree award
• Mihir Sen, first Asian to swim the English Channel in 1958, and the first swimmer to have crossed the Palk Straits in 1966
• Sarojini Sahoo, feminist writer, Sahitya Akademi award winner and editor of India AGE
• Subrata K. Mitra, political scientist and editor of Heidelberg papers of South Asia
• H R Khan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
• Subroto Bagchi, Indian entrepreneur and a Business leader, co-founder of Mindtree
• Tapan Kumar Pradhan, activist, writer and winner of Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee prize for Kalahandi
• Soumya Mishra, the first female IPS officer of Odisha