The university was established by the government of Uttar Pradesh. It includes the programs and courses in the field of education, training and research and development covering the aspects of engineering and technology, pharmacy, architecture, art and craft, town planning and other areas specified by the central government and All India Council for Technical Education as a notification in the gazette. Its main campus was located in the campus of IET Lucknow and in 2008; IET was also declared a constituent college of the Uttar Pradesh technical university. The government of Uttar Pradesh has divided the university into two separate universities: Mahamaya Technical University and Gautam Buddha Technical University. This came into effect from 1st July, 2010, with an aim to reduce the pressure and workload on the main university.

The university offers a number of courses in under graduate programs, post graduate programs and doctoral programs.

For admission, the candidate should purchase or download (from the official website of the university) the information brochure. The brochure contains the information regarding the eligibility criteria and the process of applying for any course. The candidate must satisfy the eligibility criteria before applying for the course. The candidate has to fill in an application form with his or her necessary details and submit it along with the required fee (as mentioned in the brochure). The admission is generally based on an entrance examination. The candidates qualifying in the merit list of the entrance examination gets the admission. For admission in a course, kindly refer to the prospectus or brochure of the university to get the full and correct details.

The library of the university has a huge and rich collection of books, journals, magazines etc which serves as a reservoir of knowledge for its students and helps them develop and gain education and skills. The laboratories are well equipped.