Azim Premji University, Bhopal is a philanthropic private university in Madhya Pradesh established under the state’s private-university legislation and sponsored by Azim Premji Foundation. The Bhopal university started academic operations in August 2023. It extends the Foundation’s higher-education mission beyond Bengaluru while retaining the same explicit social purpose: contributing to a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society through education, research and public engagement. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate education with a strong focus on fields connected to public purpose and social development. Early programme offerings have included education, development-related study and public health, alongside broader undergraduate learning. The Master of Public Health began with the 2023 cohort and reflects the campus’s interest in health systems, inequality, environment and population wellbeing. Teaching is designed to connect academic study with field realities, research and practice. The Bhopal campus is being developed as a residential university on approximately fifty acres. The first phase of construction was completed before academic operations began, while later phases are intended to expand academic, residential and community infrastructure as enrolment grows. University recruitment material has described a long-term capacity of roughly 4,000 students and 500 institutional members. Azim Premji University, Bhopal is part of a broader network created by Azim Premji Foundation, alongside the Bengaluru university and newer expansion in eastern India. Its current phase remains institution-building: adding programmes, faculty, research, academic systems and campus facilities while developing a Madhya Pradesh-specific contribution to higher education and the social sector. The Bhopal university is intended to serve both students seeking full-time degrees and the wider social sector through research, continuing education and engagement with practitioners. Its Madhya Pradesh location creates opportunities to study questions of public health, schooling, livelihoods, environment and development in central India while drawing on the Foundation’s long field experience.