NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology. In addition to engineering and the natural and physical sciences, the university offers advanced degrees in other academic disciplines ranging from the social sciences, the arts and humanities, teacher education, medicine, architecture and fine art.

NTNU has seven faculties with a total of 53 departments and has 20,000 students. Academic and administrative staff contribute 4,300 man-labour years of which 2,500 are in education and research. NTNU has more than 100 laboratories and is at any time running some 2,000 research projects. Students and staff can take advantage of 300 research agreements or exchange programs with 58 institutions worldwide.