Vikram University was established in Ujjain on the 1st of March, 1957. The foundation stone of Vikram University was laid by the then Home Minister of India Shri Govind Vallabh Pant on Tuesday, Kartika Krishnapaksha Chaturthi, Vikramabda 2013 i.e. on the 23rd of October, 1956. The function was presided over by the Rajpramukh of the Madhyabharat State Late Jiwajirao Scindia.

The new state of M.P. was formed in 1956 and Madhyabharat was merged into it. Thus, it was felt to amend the Act relating to the University. Consequently the amended Act of Vikram University No.13, 1957 was published in M.P. Gazette dated 16th August, 1957. From time to time many changes and amendments were made in the Act. Considerable decrease in the University jursidiction occured due to formation of Indore, Gwalior and Bhopal Universities during 1964-65 and 1969-70 respectively. On April 20th, 1973, the Honourable Governor granted permission to bring about homogeneity in the Organisation and administration of all the Universities of Madhya Pradesh. This permission was first Published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette (extraordinary) on 23rd April, 1973. By a notification of the Education Department 940/20/8/71 dated 3rd May, 1973 the bye-laws of the M.P. Universities Act No. 1 to 19 were brought into effect from 25.9.73,whereas No. 20 to 26 and No.27 to 31 from 1.12.73 and 4.5.74 respectively for all the Universities of M.P. (Including Vikram University).

The M. P. Universities Act was amended and published in M.P. Gazette, on 28th June, 1985. As per the above Amendment, University Jurisdiction was redefined and demarcated in accordance with the Revenue districts of Ujjain Division i.e. Ujjain, Ratlam, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Shajapur and Dewas. Because of the new jurisdiction, the number of affiliated colleges decreased and some new colleges were granted affiliation. The convocations held by the University in past years were addressed by great luminaries like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Sir C. P. Ramaswami Ayyar, Dr. Kalulal Shrimali, Pt. Dwarkaprasad Mishra, Pt. Kunjilal Dube, Babu Jagjiwanram, Dr. Govind Narayan Singh, Smt. Mahadevi Verma, Smt. Indira Gandhi, Dr. Sarojini Mahishi, Dr. Gopal Swarup Pathak, Prof. Nurul Hasan, Dr. Hargovind Khurana and Dr. Satish Chandra.