The quest for a model of education suitable for the development of the newly liberated countries like India led to the establishment of the New Education Commission ( 1949) headed by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan with other world level experts:A.L Mudaliar, Arthur E. Morsan, J.F. Duff, J J. Tigert, K.N. Bahl, M.N. Saha, Tara Chand, Zakir Hussain, and N.K. Sidhanta.

The resulting "Rural University Model" was a 'higher-education-version' of Gandhijí's Nai Talim (1937). that is 'new system', incorporating the experience of three other proven world models;

• Folke Hoschkole system of Denmark by N.F.S.Grundtvig(1844)
• Landgrant University system of USA(1862)
• Shriniketan experiment in Shantiniketan by Tagore ( 1922)

Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRf) was one of the 14 campuses established across the country as models and is the only one, today, with the status of an autonomous institute dedicated to rural development.

The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and programme of Action of NPE( 1992) concurred with the policy of the Institute in all aspects and reiterated that 'the new pattern of rural university will be consolidated and developed on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi's revolutionary ideas on education'. It also envisaged the correlation between socially useful productive work and academic study.

Gandhigram Rural Institute concentrated on the creation of a new cadre of rural professionals, 'action leaders', capable of handling the modern day intricacies of socio-technical and administrative aspects of the rural sector. The Institute was conferred the status of a Deemed Unrversity on 3rd August 1976 and has grown in stature and extent to be honoured with a FIVE STAR status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in January 2002 for its excellence in 'education through extension'.

At present the Institute is a huge educational complex comprising of 7 full fledged faculties, 20 departments, 20 centres/extension outfits and 59 different campus programmes and 40 Distance Learning People's Education Programmes, awarding Doctorates, Master's and Bachelor's Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates, located in a sprawling 200 acre campus of greenery in the valley nestling between the Sirumalai ranges on the east and the Kodaikanal hills of the Western Ghats on the west, the Institute is easily accessible by rail and road. With 3000 students, 125 teachers and 250 non-teaching staff, thousands of government personnel and NGO volunteers benefiting from its cadre training programmes and lakhs of common people rcluding SUGs getting empowered through its 'People's Education Programmes (PEP)', the Institute continues to develop and grow, attracting students from all over the country and abroad.His Excellency Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Vice-President of India, is the present Chancellor of the University and Prof. T. Karunakaran is the present Vice-Chancellor. The GRI is fullysupported by the University Grants Commission (UGC)

In the first phase, spanning a period of two decades up to 1976, the Institute concentrated on community development After being made a Deemed University in 1976, the Institute entered its second phase in which the accent was shifted to integrated rural development. Now, it is entering its third phase with a mission to provide knowledge support to the rural sector to usher in a self-reliant, self-sufficient and self-governed community with a capability to engage the emerging globalism.