Regional police chief Saeed Wazir said most of the student victims were shot dead at a hostel for boys on the Bacha Khan University campus in Charsadda, about 17 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital, Peshawar, according to RFE/RL.
Wazir did not specify whether the death toll included the four gunmen that Pakistan's Army said it had killed.
Two large explosions also were heard at the university during the battle, which began in the early morning when militants opened fire on students and teachers at the computer science and management sciences facilities.
Pakistan's Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the report.
Read alsoTerror attack on Bacha Khan University in PakistanA provincial official at the scene of the violence, Shaukat Yousufzai, said at least 50 people were injured.
Earlier reports said many female students had been trapped inside a school building.
The violence comes as Pakistani military forces continue a campaign against Pakistani Taliban and other militants in tribal areas neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan.
