6 oldest universities of modern India

The seeds of modern western education were laid in the country along with the development of business and power of the British East India Company during the early 19th century. The company needed educated locals to carry out its business properly in India, and the local masses started feeling the need for proper certification of qualification for the purpose of serving the administration and other government departments. The result was the foundation of the first three universities of the country by Earl Viscount Canning, the British Governor General, in 1857. In a time of nationwide political disturbances and turmoil in the form of the Indigo Revolutions, the Santhal Revolutions and the Sepoy Mutiny, the country slowly progresses towards what we now know as proper institutionalized and global education.

Intended to be a chronicle history of the foundation and development of this format of education in the country, our series would contain 6 episodes on the 6 oldest universities of modern India. Starting from the Calcutta University in the first till the University of Mysore in the sixth, each episode would elaborate on the background, history, authorities, scholars, achievements, accreditations and an up-to-date evaluation of each institution on a comparative scale.

(Calcutta University) The picture is the property of the site from where the images are taken please click on the images to visit the respective sites

The Calcutta University was founded by the British in India in 1857, modeled on the University of London in England. This was originally a purely affiliating university that offered no actual instruction but was the examining and degree granting authority for colleges spread all across northern India. Undergraduate teaching was carried out in the colleges as it is still. Since 1904 it has gradually added teaching to its supervisory functions. Postgraduate classes were concentrated at Presidency College, with a few at what was then the Scottish Church College. A number of professors were appointed directly by the University in 1904. But only in 1917 did the University set up centralized departments of postgraduate study. The alternate periods of tides and ebbs during the entire period before independence witnessed much of the growth of this university from its infancy to childhood. After the Partition of Bengal West Bengal inherited 48 colleges and another 108 were set up by 1967, though the pace slowed somewhat thereafter. But by the mid-70s the university acclaimed to be one of the largest universities in the world.

(Bombay University) The picture is the property of the site from where the images are taken please click on the images to visit the respective sites

The University of Bombay (now known as the University of Mumbai) was established in 1857 consequent upon "Wood's Education Dispatch", and it is the second out of the first three Universities in India. The profile of this University carved out in 148 years of its functioning attests to its manifold achievements as the intellectual and moral powerhouse of the society. Initially, the University concentrated its efforts on controlling teaching at the undergraduate level and in conducting examinations. Later on it took up research and the task of imparting instructions at the Post-Graduate level. This resulted in the establishment of the University Departments beginning with the School of Sociology and Civics & Politics. The independence of the country led to the re-organization of the functions and powers of the University with the passing of the Bombay University Act of 1953. It is now granted a Five Star status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

(Allahabad University) The picture is the property of the site from where the images are taken please click on the images to visit the respective sites

Established in 1887, it is the fourth oldest university of India after Calcutta, Bombay and Madras University. On September 23, 1887 Act XVIII was passed which established the Allahabad University. Like the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, the Allahabad University also started as a degree conferring institution. Its first entrance examination was held in March 1889. In 1904 the Indian Universities Act was passed which limited the territorial jurisdiction of Allahabad University to the United Provinces of Agra and Awadh, the Central Provinces including Berar, Ajmer, Mewar and most of the states of Rajputana and Central Indian Agencies. Between 1887 and 1927 at least thirty-eight different institutions and colleges of this area were affiliated to Allahabad University. From the beginning the University has been concerned about women's education. It purchased houses for a women's Hostel and College and other buildings adjoining the College. In this millennium year, the University of Allahabad completes more than a hundred and thirteen years.

(Madras University) The picture is the property of the site from where the images are taken please click on the images to visit the respective sites

The University of Madras, organized on the model of London University, was incorporated on 5 September 1857 by an Act of the Legislative Council of India. The University of Madras progressed and expanded throughout the nineteenth century to span the whole of South India and subsequently gave birth to and nourished most of the South-Indian universities. In 1912 endowments were made to the University to establish departments of Indian History, Archaeology, Comparative Philology and Indian Economics. Later, the research and teaching functions of the University were encouraged by Sadler Commission and the gains of the University were consolidated by the enactment of Madras University Act of 1923. However, Indian independence in 1947, the setting up of the University Grants Commission in 1956 and changes in political, social and cultural milieu had brought several amendments to the Madras University Act to permit qualitative and quantitative changes in its jurisdictions and functions. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council has conferred the "Five star Status" to the University of Madras. The University of Madras has been given the status of "University with Potential for Excellence" by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

(Banaras Hindu University) The picture is the property of the site from where the images are taken please click on the images to visit the respective sites

Banaras Hindu University is an internationally reputed temple of learning, situated in the holy city of Varanasi. This Creative and innovative university was founded by the great nationalist leader, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, in 1916 with cooperation of great personalities like Dr Annie Besant, who viewed it as the University of India. Banaras Hindu University was created under the Parliamentary legislation - B.H.U. Act 1915. It played a stellar role in the independence movement and has developed into one of the greatest centers of learning in India. It has produced many great freedom fighters and builders of modern India and has immensely contributed to the progress of the nation through a large number of renowned scholars, artists, scientists and technologists who have graced its portals. The University family consists of about 15000 students belonging to all streams of life, castes and religions and races, about 1700 teachers, and nearly 8000 non-teaching staff. A large number of students from foreign countries like the U.S.A, the countries of Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa etc., come to study here. The university has taken a leadership role in promoting new ideas, the spirit of integration of the world, and cultivation of intellect and culture.

( Mysore University )

The University of Mysore is among the foremost institutions of its kind, and is an enduring symbol in the sphere of higher education in India. It was founded by the then Maharaja of Mysore, His Highness Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and his Dewan, the renowned engineer-statesman Sir M.Visveswaraya, on July 27, 1916. The University of Mysore became the first University outside the domain of the English administration in India, the sixth University in India as a whole, and the first ever University in Karnataka. It is a state University of the affiliating type, and turned autonomous on March 3, 1956, when it got recognition from the University Grants Commission. The University now encompasses 122 affiliated colleges and 5 constituent colleges (with an aggregate of 53,000 students). In addition, the University has 37 postgraduate departments, 8 specialized research & training centers and 2 postgraduate centers that together offer about 55 regular academic programmes to 3,500 students. As it gets closer to its centenary celebrations, the University looks forward to newer ways of fulfilling the vision of its founding fathers.