In realization of the need for training better quality technicians to meet the large scale industrialization of the country, the ministry of Human Resource Development (the then Ministry of Education), Government of India established four Regional Technical Teachers' Training Institutes (now National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research, NITTTR at Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai and Kolkata in 1967. The Institute at Chandigarh is one of these four NITTTRs, started in collaboration with Royal Netherlands Government (upto 1974). It was designed to meet the requirements of developing polytechnic education in the northern region covering the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh. The Institute is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and is managed by a Board of Governors.