About 20 students are said to have been injured at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the capital Delhi after masked men attacked them inside the campus.
Student protesters inside the university are currently demonstrating against the recently enacted citizenship law which they say prejudicial against Muslim citizens.
Pictures shared on social media showed student union president Aishe Ghosh bleeding from a head wound.
One member of staff said masked men armed with stones and sticks had attacked students and teachers on Sunday evening.
“These were not small stones, these were big stones that could have broken our skulls,” Professor Atul Sood told NDTV.
“I fell on the side and when I came out, I saw cars completely vandalised, including my car.”
Professor Sood said about 50 teachers and 200 students had been holding a meeting on the campus when the masked attackers walked in.
He said the violence was unlike anything the campus had witnessed before.
There were also violent clashes at JNU last year over a rise in hostel fees.
Police have entered the campus looking for the attackers.
The student union blamed the latest violence on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a right-wing student body linked to India’s governing BJP political party. However, the ABVP said that its members had been attacked by left-wing groups, and some had been injured. (Source: BBC)