The history of organized public education in Bhutan is just over 50 years. But with the commitment of the Royal Government, Bhutan has made great strides in education. Under the enlightened leadership of its Kings the Government has always put the people at the centre of its development strategies, guided by the development philosophy of "Gross National Happiness" (GNH). Education of its people has been central to all its efforts in the development of the country. Within the span of just over fifty years, Bhutan has developed a diversified system of educational institutions.

Bhutan launched its one and only University, the Royal University of Bhutan, in June 2003, under the Royal Charter and Statutes signed in 18 April 2003 and 25 April 2003 respectively. The Royal Charter and the Statutes provide the legal instruments for the University. The objectives of the University as stated in the Royal Charter (RUB 2003) are: to develop and provide programmes of study at tertiary education level, of relevance and good quality which will fulfill the needs of the country for an educated and skilled population, and to promote and conduct research, to contribute to the creation of knowledge in an international context and to promote the transfer of knowledge of relevance to Bhutan.

The establishment of the University brought together the ten tertiary institutes under one organization. While the University as an organization is relatively young, most of its constituent Colleges have been established in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Royal University of Bhutan is based on a distributed model with the Office of the Vice Chancellor responsible for central coordination and the constituent member Colleges looking after the academic functions of teaching and research.

Official Website: http://www.rub.edu.bt