Ahmedabad (Known locally as Amdāvād, Gujarati અમદાવાદ) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and one of the largest urban agglomerations in India, with a population of approximately 5.2 million. Located on the banks of the River Sabarmati, the city is the administrative centre of Ahmedabad district and was the capital of Gujarat from 1960 to 1970; the capital was shifted to Gandhinagar thereafter. It was founded in the year 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah. It is owing to this reason that, sometimes, it is also referred to as the city of Ahmed Shah. Ahmedabad is the hub of trade and commerce in Gujarat. The commercial importance of Ahmedabad makes the city an important travel destination in India. Besides being home to a number of important industries, Ahmedabad also has a number of majestic monuments, which remind us of the great historical and cultural past of the city. Over a period of time, Ahmedabad established itself as the home of textile industry and earned the nickname of "the Manchester of the East." A rising centre of higher education, information technology and scientific industries, Ahmedabad continues to remain one of the important cultural and commercial centers of western India.

The elementary education in the city is well managed by the municipal authority or by local trusts. Schools in Ahmedabad are either run by the municipal corporation or by several trusts. The schools of Ahmedabad have their affiliation with the state board of secondary education or with the CBSE or ICSE. The state affiliated schools use Gujarati as their medium of study while other schools (affiliated to CBSE or ICSE) use English as their medium of study. There are two deemed universities and one open university in the city, which provide degree courses in various fields of higher education.

Ahmedabad has become a great seat of learning due to the presence of some renowned institutions like Indian Institute of Management (IIM), the National Institute of Design, the Mudra Institute of Communications, the National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology. The city also holds some of the India’s big research centres like Physical Research Laboratory and the Space Applications Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation. A satellite campus of IIT-Bombay was opened in January 2009 to offer courses that will focus on the skilled-labour need of Gujarat viz. textiles, and aeronautical, marine, and ship engineering through video conferencing.

Number of universities: 1950-51: 27 -- 2000-01: 254

Number of colleges: 1950-51: 578 -- 2000-01: over 10,000 (some estimate over 13,000)

Number of college graduates per year: 20 lakh (2 million) [BBC Jan 07]

Number of teachers in higher education: 1961: 62,000 (estimate) - 1997: over 320,000 - 2003: over 330,000 (estimate)

Number of students enrolled: 1961:17.9 million -- 1991: 72.4 million

Average number of students per teacher: 220

People partaking of higher education: 1 person out of every 14,000

Education enrolment by level < Tertiary level: 11,295,041 (3rd of 150)

Education spending (% of GDP): 4.1% (82nd of 132)

Education spending (% of total government expenditure): 12.7% (68th of 96)

Public spending on education, total % of government expenditure: 10.74 % (57th of 103)

Tertiary enrollment: 10.5% (94th of 151)

Education spending (% Tertiary): 20.3% (42nd of 108)