Education in Nottingham is governed by the unitary authority of Nottingham, overseen by its Nottingham City Council.

The Nottinghamshire LEA was created by the Education Act 1902. Nottinghamshire Education Committee took over from the school boards on 1 July 1903.

Until 1998, the schools were administered by Nottinghamshire County Council, based on the banks of the River Trent, in Rushcliffe.

BBC school broadcasts on television started in September 1957 - four Nottingham schools received the broadcasts from 24 September 1957 to 9 December 1957. WG Jackson, Nottingham Director of Education, said some people say that the vicarious experience of pictures on television is not good for the pupil, but that remains to be seen.^[1]

The unitary authority has not excelled in recent years, but seemed to have elevated marginally in the results league tables. Unfortunately when the exam league tables were reformed (removing modules, and disallowing repeated re-sits) in 2014, to reveal the true extent of GCSE results,^[2] the LEA was fourth from bottom (148th) in England (out of 151)^[3][4] with 44.6% gaining five good GCSEs.

Over twenty local authorities in England do not have of those sitting exams getting good results, including Nottingham. Around 1,500 superteachers (known as an Advanced Skills Teacher) are to be sent into these areas to raise attainment. These twenty local authorities have typically had difficulties attracting suitably-qualified staff with relevant degrees.

There are around 62,500 students in Nottingham, who spend around £542m a year, an average of £11,000 each, according to Experian.

• University College Nottingham was founded in 1881, and given a Royal Charter in 1948, whereby it had degree-awarding powers, and named itself the University of Nottingham. In the Complete University Guide for 2016, Nottingham comes 25th. It employs around 7,000 staff.
• Nottingham Regional College of Technology opened in 1958, and from 1970 to 1992 was a polytechnic, becoming a university (NTU) in 1992. NTU employs around 5,000 staff, who are mostly part-time. NTU has around 23,000 under-graduates and around 3,000 post-graduates. NTU's Nottingham Business School has around 4,500 students.
• The College of Law was founded in 1962, being granted degree-awarding powers in 2006. It received university status in 2012, changing its name to the University of Law. It opened its Nottingham campus in 2019.^[6]

• History of Nottinghamshire