Kazi Nazrul University (abbr. KNU) () is a public state research university located in Asansol, West Bengal, India. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone on 10 January 2013. The university has been named after the Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. The university was established under the Kazi Nazrul University Act, 2012. Anuradha Mukherjee was appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the university. In 2018 in a special convocation the university honored the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina with an honorary Doctorate of Literature.
In October 2025 Governor of West Bengal, as chancellor of universities, appointed Uday Bandyopadhyay as vice chancellor of the university.
The university is an affiliating institution and has jurisdiction over the colleges of the Paschim Bardhaman district.
Kazi Nazrul University has 19 departments organized into four faculty councils.
In 2016 CM Mamata Banerjee gave clearance to set up the Institute for Mines, Minerals and Metallurgic Sciences in Asansol under Kazi Nazrul University. The university now offers courses like Diploma, B.Tech., B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD. A 7 acre plot has been allotted for the institute's campus. The School of Mines and Metallurgy consists of the Department Of Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering (Data Science).
In May 2015 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Nazrul Research Centre would be established at the university, it's been a long pending demand from poet's family. In 2023 the University signed agreement with Taylor's University from Malaysia for research and faculty exchange programme.
The Central Library of Kazi Nazrul University was established in 2013. It is located in a convenient place on the ground floor of the Vidyacharya Building. The books are classified according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. All books are barcoded. Students of affiliated colleges are also be able to enter the central library. The collection of books includes documents on a wide range of topics, including Bengali literature, English literature, pure science, art, history and social sciences, and language. The university library has a valuable collection of more than 20,000 books. In 2024 the university started to digitise Kazi Nazrul Islam's manuscripts and shellac records to preserve culturally important archives.
In 2022, the university started to publish the journal Nazrul Journal.
Kazi Nazrul University was ranked 65th among the academic institutions in India by the Nature Index in 2023.
In July 2019, the university was given membership of the Association of Indian Universities.
The University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) accorded recognition to the university in accordance with Section 12B of the U.G.C. Act, in 2019.
In September 2021, the university has been awarded Grade B with a CGPA of 2.1 by the NAAC.
The university suddenly suspended giving the Nazrul award, and in 2022 the state body discontinued the award in the poet's name.
In May 2023, a teacher was accused of raping a Bangladeshi student on the promise of marriage. The victim student made this allegation against a professor of the Bengali department of the same university. The female student from Rangpur, Bangladesh, is a postgraduate student of the university's Bengali department. A few months ago, the woman student informed the university authorities and Asansol Women Police Station about the incident. Though several days passed, there was no resolution. The victim then approached the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission at Kolkata in the hope of justice. She also filed a written complaint against the professor at Durgapur Women's Police Station on 10 May. The girl also lodged a complaint with the state women's commission. Based on that complaint, the Women's Commission launched an investigation.