Chaudhary Charan Singh Agricultural University, popularly known as HAU, is located in Hissar (Haryana). It was initially a campus of Panjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. In 1966, with the division of Panjab and Haryana, HAU became an independent land grant institution. Since then, HAU has become internationally known not only for its advances in high yielding grain and cotton varieties but also for its scenic campus.

The first Vice-Chancellor of HAU, Mr. A. L. Fletcher dedicated many years of his life in making HAU one of the best known institutions in Asia. His vision and efforts, as well as his proximity to the powers that be, led to an infusion of resources for creation of world class infrastructure, laboratories and other facilities on the main campus.

At present, the Chaudhary Charan Singh Agricultural University has seven colleges: College of Agriculture, College of Agricultural Engineering, College of Animal Sciences, College of Basic Sciences, College of Home Sciences, College of Sports and College of Veterinary Sciences.

In fact, HAU was the first institution of higher learning to create a separate college for sports in India. The University also has a research and training farm of over 3,000 acres (about 1,200 hectares) for faculty and students. The university recently annexed another 2,000 acres for its seed operations. The University has a faculty of well over 1,200 scientists most of whom have either been educated or trained abroad in their field of specialization.

HAU is also one of the three Indian universities to be a recipient of the recent World Bank project on Agricultural Human Resource Development. The overall project is approximately US$240 million. Under the project, about 65 faculty members and deans/directors are scheduled to visit the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. The visitors will undergo three to four-and-a-half month trainings at selected universities in these countries. The project is currently under way (July 1998) and some faculty members have already started the trainings.

This university, which was earlier known as Hissar Agricultural University (HAU), was given its present name after Chaudhary Charan Singh, a former Prime Minister of India.