The Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, commonly known as KL University or KLEF, is an Indian private deemed-to-be university with campuses at Vaddeswaram in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, and at Hyderabad, Telangana. Established in 1980 as the Koneru Lakshmaiah College of Engineering, it has since expanded into a multi-disciplinary institution offering undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes through its constituent schools.
| Name | Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KL University) |
|---|---|
| Former name | Koneru Lakshmaiah College of Engineering |
| Type | Private deemed-to-be university |
| Established | 1980 |
| Main campus | Vaddeswaram, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh |
| Other campus | Hyderabad, Telangana |
| Schools | Eight constituent schools |
KL University is structured as a private deemed university and operates eight schools that together cover engineering, sciences, management, humanities and allied disciplines. Programmes are offered at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels, with post-doctoral and industry-focused courses also available.
As of 2025, the institution has been barred from accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for a period of five years, following reports of attempts to bribe an assessor team in order to secure a favourable grading.
In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025, the university was placed:
As one of the older private engineering institutions in coastal Andhra Pradesh, KL University has played a role in the growth of technical education in the Guntur–Vijayawada region. Its evolution from a single engineering college into a deemed university with multiple schools illustrates the broader expansion of private higher education in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana since the 1980s.