Central University of Orissa has been established in 2009.

by the Parliament under the Central Universities Act, 2009 (No. 3C of 2009).

It is one of the 15 new Central Universities established by the Government of India during the UGC XI Plan period to address the concerns of “equity and access” and as per the policy of the Government of India to increase the access to quality higher education by people in less educationally developed districts which have a Graduate Enrollment Ratio of less than the national average of 11%.

Koraput District of Orissa comes within the KBK region (Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi) which is still considered as an extremely as underdeveloped region of the State of Orissa.