The Bombay legislature of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency established Karnatak University through the Karnatak University Act 1949. It became a statutory University on 1st March 1950. The jurisdiction of the University covers Dharwad. Gadag, Haveri and Uttar Kannada districts. It has several Post Graduate centres. The University (888 acres) is offering courses in the faculties of Arts, Commerce, Education, Law, Management, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. Symbolic of the University’s vision and mission the emblem of the University consists of papal tree at the centre, an open book. Figures of a bull, a rising sun and the legend ‘Arive Guru’ i.e., Wisdom is Guru, implying that both wisdom and knowledge should be all pervading like the ramifying papal tree and light up the world with knowledge and eradicate illiteracy.