National Institute of Technology, Calicut was set up in 1961 as Regional Engineering College Calicut (CREC), the ninth of its kind and the first one to be established during the Third Five-Year Plan period. Until the formation of Calicut University in 1963, the institute was affiliated with Kerala University. It was largely due to the efforts of Pattom Thanu Pillai, then Chief Minister of Kerala, that the institute came into being. Prof. S. Rajaraman, first principal of Government Engineering College, Thrissur was appointed as the special officer in 1961 to organise the activities of the college until M. V. Kesava Rao took charge as the first principal of the college. The classes were initially held at the Government Polytechnic at West Hill, before it moved to its present campus in 1963. The college started with an annual intake of 125 students for the undergraduate courses, on a campus of 120 hectares

NIT Calicut was ranked 23rd in the engineering stream[18] and 3rd in the architecture stream in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2020.[20] It was ranked 23rd among engineering colleges in India in 2019 by The Week.[19] National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) has secured secured 9th rank in the ARIIA 21 in the category of centrally funded technical institutes (CFTIs), central university and institutes of national importance). NITC has become the first among all the 31 NITs in the country in the ARIIA 21 rankings.[22]

Students are taken in for the undergraduate courses through the Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA). Around 16 lakh students wrote this test in 2012 to gain admission to one of 20 NITs. This makes it one of the largest such examinations in the world.[17] Admission to some other autonomous national level technical institutes (called Deemed University) is also through JEE Main. Students who have studied outside India for a minimum period of 2(two) years may seek admission through DASA (Direct Admission for Students Abroad) which was managed by EdCil (Educational Consultants India Limited) and is currently being managed by the National Institute of Technology Hazaratbal, Srinagar, (based on 12th Standard Board Examination marks or equivalent higher secondary examination marks/grade and SAT-II (Scholastic Aptitude Test -II) scores in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics conducted by College Board. A similar admission provision is provided for foreign nationals. Admission to the graduate M.Tech and Ph.D. courses are primarily based on scores in the GATE exam, conducted by the IITs. Admission to the MCA program is done through the NIMCET conducted by the NITs. The first NIMCET in 2006 was conducted by NIT Calicut. Faculty from other institutes work as research scholars in NITC under the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP). It is the national coordination center for the QIP of polytechnic institutes. Admission to MBA course is based on the Common Admission Test[CAT] score. Admission details will be published on the institute website and major dailies in India. The applicants will be shortlisted based on the CAT score, performance in the qualifying degree (BTech/BE) and work experience. The final selection is based on the performance of shortlisted candidates in group discussion (GD) and personal interview (PI). The GD and PI are normally conducted in major cities across India.