Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The university was founded by and named after Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918. It is the third oldest university in southern India, and the first to be established in the erstwhile Kingdom of Hyderabad. It was the first Indian university to have Urdu as a medium of instruction — but with English as a compulsory subject. As of 2012, the university hosts 3,700 international students from more than 80 nations. The O.U. is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 300,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. The Osmania Medical College was once a part of the O.U. System. However, it is now under the supervision of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.

History
The Osmania University was brought into existence in 1918 through a firman of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. The need for a university in Hyderabad State was felt for a long time, and in 1917, Sir Akbar Hydari, in a memorandum to the Education Minister, emphasized the need to establish a university with Urdu as the medium of instruction "as it is the language of the widest currency in India". After independence and the accession of Hyderabad State in 1948, the university fell under the purview of the state government. English replaced Urdu as the medium of instruction, and the Nizam's crown was also removed from the university seal.

Seal
The original seal featured the Nizam's crown as the crest, along with the phrase Noorun Ala Noor. It also contained the hadith, "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate". The present emblem contains inscriptions in Telugu and Sanskrit. The new logo has the Urdu letter Ain in between.

Campus
The Main campus is a chief intellectual centre in Hyderabad, and its alumni and faculty members include many distinguished individuals, including former Prime Minister of India P.V. Narasimha Rao. Admission to Main campus departments of Genetics, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Engineering, Management, and Law is highly competitive. The state government has appointed Prof S.Ramachandram as vice chancellor of the University. The University is accredited by the NAAC with an 'A+' Grade and conferred with the status of 'University with Potential for Excellence' by the UGC, New Delhi. The University Colleges are located within the main campus of the university. There are eight such colleges: the University College of Arts and Social Sciences, University College of Commerce & Business Management, University College of Technology, University College of Engineering, University College of Law, University College of Science, Institute of Advance Study in Education, and PG College of Physical Education. The university offers courses in Humanities, Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Engineering, Medicine, Technology, Commerce and Business Management, Information Technology and Oriental Languages. In 2001, Osmania was awarded five-star status by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) of the University Grants Commission, part of the Government of India. The university has a campus of nearly 1600 acres (6 km2) with 300,000 students (counting all the campuses, constituent affiliated colleges and district centres) making it one of the largest higher education systems in India. Nearly 5000 faculty and staff are employed at Osmania. It attracts students from across the nation as well as from other countries.

Admissions
Osmania is a non-profit university which is funded and managed by the government. Admissions into the Bachelor of Engineering, Masters and Doctoral programs in main campus is on a merit basis, evaluated by national entrance examinations (EAMCET, GATE, BCFSBTGMES-N&D, TSLAWCET, O.U. PhD Entrance Exam etc.) for each of the courses offered.

Departments
College of Arts and Social Sciences

• Ancient history, culture & Archeology
• Arabic
• Communication & Journalism
• Economics
• English
• French
• German
• Hindi
• History
• Islamic Studies
• Kannada
• Library & Information Science
• Linguistics
• Marathi
• Persian
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Administration
• Russian
• Sanskrit
• Sociology
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Urdu
• Theatre Arts

College of Commerce and Business Management

• Commerce
• Business Management

College of Engineering

• Biomedical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electronics and Communication Engineering
• Electronics and Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Automobile Engineering
• Production Engineering

College of Law

• Law

College of Science

• Astronomy
• Biochemistry
• Biotechnology
• Botany
• Computer Science
• Chemistry
• Environmental Science
• Forensic Science
• Genetics
• Geochemistry
• Geography
• Geo-informatics
• Geology
• Geophysics
• Mathematics
• Microbiology
• Physics
• Statistics
• Zoology

College of Technology

• Chemical Engineering
• Chemical Technology
• Materials Science & Technology
• Biochemical Engineering
• Biotechnology
• Textile Technology
• Food Technology
• Pharmacy

Institute of Advanced Study in Education

• Education

(Source:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmania_University)