Pune, "The Cultural Capital of Maharashtra state" of India, has been an Education Hub since British Rule. During the British Rule Pune became host to some prestigious institutes like College of Engineering (1854), Fergusson College (1885), S.P. College (1916), ILS Law College (1924), Nowrosjee Wadia College (1932), etc. Immediately after the Independence of India, The Biggest Gift to city was in the form of "University of Pune (1949)". Pune was called "The Oxford of the east" by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister due to the well-known academic and research institutions in the city and its popularity amongst students. Since then, Pune has been attracting students from all over the world.

Initially, the University of Pune had a jurisdiction extending over 12 districts of western Maharashtra. However, with the establishment of Shivaji University in Kolhapur in 1964, jurisdiction of the university was restricted to 5 districts, namely Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon. Out of these, two districts Dhule and Jalgaon are attached to the North Maharashtra University established in August 1990.

In 1949, there were only 18 colleges affiliated to the university (including famed colleges such as the Film and Television Institute of India, S. P. College, Wadia College, Garware College, Fergusson College, College of Engineering, Pune) with an enrollment of over 8000 students. Thereafter, the number of colleges increased, and in 2010, the university had 41 graduate departments, 433 affiliated colleges and 232 recognized research institutions, with an enrollment of 496,531 students for both the undergraduate and graduate courses in different faculties. D Y Patil College of Engineering is also affiliated to the University and has the largest intake of 630 seats for the bachelors degree in engineering.

In 1983 State Government of Maharashtra, allowed Private Educational Institute to run Colleges conducting Professional Courses(Engineering, Medicine, etc.). Since then numbers of institution were increasing at much a higher rate, and there was a sudden increase in Educational Activities of Pune with the inception of Engineering colleges, Management colleges, Architecture Colleges, etc. Maharashtra Institute of Technology and Pune Institute of Computer Technology were amongst first Private Engineering colleges of Maharashtra, ASM's Institute of Business Management & Research was amongst first Private Management Colleges, all started in 1983, which today also Ranks first amongst many surveys conducted for quality of Educational Institutes.

Since 1983, Numbers of Engineering colleges in Pune have crossed 40, for MBA colleges in Pune which is almost 100 and for MCA colleges in Pune it is almost 50. Let us see what future holds for Pune as far as education is concerned.