Guru Nanak Dev University (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ), or G.N.D.U., was established at Amritsar, India on November 24, 1969 to commemorate Guru Nanak Dev's birth quincentenary celebrations. Guru Nanak Dev University campus is spread over 500 acres (2 km²) near village of Kot Khalsa, nearly 8 km west of the Amritsar City on Amritsar - Lahore highway, next to Khalsa College, Amritsar. G.N.D.U. is both a residential and an affiliating University. In conceiving the future course of the University, the objectives enshrined in the Act 1969, emphasized that the new university would make provision for imparting education and promoting research in the humanities, learned professions, sciences, especially of applied nature and technology. Studies and research on the life and teachings of Guru Nanak, in addition to working towards the promotion of Punjabi language and spreading education among educationally backward classes and communities were the other commitments. Guru Nanak Dev University campus is spread over 500 acres (2 km²) near the village of Kot Khalsa, some eight kilometers west of the Amritsar City on Amritsar - Lahore highway, next to Khalsa College, Amritsar. G.N.D.U.