The Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada Univerity, formerly known as Marathwada University, was established in 1958 at Aurangabad in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra with the motto “Knowledge is sacred and it is the source of enlightenment”. Marathwada region comprises eight districts, and was originally a part of the princely state of Hyderabad, then known as Nizam State. The economy of this drought prone area is based mostly on agriculture. The University Grants Commission declared the region educationally backward long time ago. In 1948, there was only one college providing education up to intermediate level. The students were required to go to Hyderabad, Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai for further higher studies. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, veteran leader and architect of Indian Constitution, established colleges of higher education at Nagsen Vana campus, Aurangabad, in early 1950. Veteran freedom fighters Shri Swami Ramanand Teerth and Shri Govinbhai Shroff established colleges of higher learning subsequently.

On this backdrop, this University was established to provide access to higher education for students from the rural agricultural families with social, economic, and educational backwardness. The University was expected to give impetus for establishment of new colleges and institutions of higher learning. The University Grants Commission granted recognition to this University under 12B of its act in 1959 as an affiliating University. In the year 1994, this region came to have a second University – Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University at Nanded, and the then Marathwada University was renamed as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University having jurisdiction over the four districts of Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, and Osmanabad. The main campus is located in a sprawling 700 acre plot at Aurangabad. This University has a satellite campus at Ratnagiri.