On the 27th August 2013, the Government of Botswana approved that the then Botswana College of Agriculture should transform into a university of agriculture and natural resources through Presidential Directive CAB 21 (B)/2013. The decision was in line with the College’s Strategic Plan of 2009-2016 that had a vision to transform into “an agricultural university of international repute.”

The process of transformation was inaugurated when the, then Ministry of Agriculture announced the Government’s decision at a ceremony at the Sebele campus on the 12th November 2013. On the 1st February 2016, BUAN became a University through commencement of the Act of Parliament 12 of 2015 as a Parastatal under the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security (MoA).