The year 1987 saw the beginnings of the tectonic shift in perceptions about law as a career from one of the least attractive careers, to one of the most sought after, with the establishment of the National Law School, Bangalore. It was a time of hope for the legal fraternity. The concept of a national institution to act as a pace-setter and a testing ground for bold experiments in legal education came up before the Bar Council of India in the context of the Council's statutory responsibility for maintaining standards in professional legal education (under the Advocates Act).

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, was established by an Act of Govt. of Uttar Pradesh in 2005, U.P. Act No.28 of 2005 and came into being on 4th of January 2006 to meet up the new challenges in legal field and to strengthen the vision that was given by the establishment of first National Law School of the country. Originally incorporated as 'Dr.Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law Institute, Uttar Pradesh' word 'Institute' was substituted by the 'University' later, vide an amendment in the Act in November 2006. This was done to give a comprehensive national character to the Institute on lines with the other premier National Law Universities of the Country

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established by an Act of Parliament in 1985, has continuously striven to build an inclusive knowledge society through inclusive education. It has tried to increase the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) by offering high-quality teaching through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode.

The University began by offering two academic programmes in 1987, i.e., Diploma in Management and Diploma in Distance Education, with a strength of 4,528 students.

Today, it serves the educational aspirations of over 3 million students in India and other countries through 21 Schools of Studies and a network of 67 Regional Centres, around 2,000 Learner Support Centres and 20 overseas institutions. The University offers about 200 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programmes, with a strength of nearly 250 faculty members and 230 academic staff at the headquarters and regional centres and over 35,000 academic counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning, professional organisations, and industry among others.