THE NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (NTNU) was established on 1 January 1996. It replaces the University of Trondheim (UNIT), which included the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), the College of Arts and Science (AVH, formerly NLHT) and the distinguished Museum of Natural History and Archaeology.

NTNU is an innovation in the Norwegian academic world. As the name shows it is a national centre for technological education and research within the natural sciences. However, the premises for the establishment of NTNU also state that it is to be a university with social commitment and have a comprehensive approach to the challenges we face. Thus, NTNU is a university with broadly-based expertise in the classical university disciplines and academic eminence in the social and the humanities.

Technology must be developed in accordance with what is naturally sustainable and to the benefit of all. NTNU's mandate is consequently one that combines the responsibility that universities have for reflection, critical thought and the quest for true knowledge, with the demands from professional education to find constructive solutions. An important instrument here is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary cooperation. The will to achieve such cooperation is to be a distinguishing characteristic of both staff and students at NTNU.