Rajiv Gandhi University (formerly Arunachal University), the premier institute of higher learning in Arunachal Pradesh, has completed forty years of its existence. Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, laid the foundation stone of the University on February 4, 1984. Subsequently, it started postgraduate courses from the Academic session 1988- 89 in the sprawling and picturesque Rono Hills. The University was converted into a Central University on April 9, 2007 by a notification of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. In the outskirts of Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, Rono Hills is at a distance of 6.5 km from the National Highway 52-A which leads to Itanagar.