SAU was established as Bengal Agricultural Institute (BAI) on 11 December 1938 by Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of undivided Bengal. The Bengal Agricultural Institute was renamed East Pakistan Agricultural Institute in 1947. After the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country in 1971, the name of the institute was spontaneously changed to Bangladesh Agricultural Institute (BAI). Since its inception in 1938, the BAI had been functioning as a Faculty of Agriculture under Dhaka University. After the establishment of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) at Mymensingh in 1961 its academic function was transferred to BAU in 1964 until its upgrade to Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in 2001. SAU became the 17th public university of the country in 2001. The Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Act 2001 was passed in the Parliament of Bangladesh on 9 July. The foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 15 July 2001 and inaugurated the university activities through the appointment of the first vice-chancellor, Md. Shadat Ulla. SAU functioned as a university from 2001 with a single faculty: the Faculty of Agriculture following the issuance of a notification by the government as per requirement of the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Act 2001. On 22 June 2009, a bill was placed in the parliament to assign the president as chancellor. The Agribusiness Management, Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Science faculties started in 2007, 2012 and 2017. Nearly 5,700 graduates plus 600 postgraduates have been produced by the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. Presently about 3,300 undergraduate and postgraduate students are enrolled and are taught by faculty members.