Heritage Universities of India – Part 2

In continuation to our series on Heritage Universities in India, Shiksha brings for you a list of 10 campuses in the country which are more than 100 years old.

Presidency University

Location: Kolkata, West Bengal

Established: 1817

One of the oldest educational institutions of “higher learning in the modern sense in Asia”, Presidency University was initially referred to as Hindoo College and was rechristened in 1855 to Presidency College of Bengal. This educational institution was founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Raja Radhakanta Deb, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde East, Maharaja Tejchandra Ray of Burdwan, Babu Buddinath Mukherjee and Prasanna Coomar Tagore.

The official website says, “The subjects taught at the outset were English, Bengali, Sanskrit, History, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry and some other science subjects. In addition, Law, Commerce and Engineering were taught for some time”.

Some famous alumni from this educational institution were – Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Amartya Sen, Sukhamoy Chakraborty, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Muhammad Ali of Bogra and Jagadish Chandra Bose, among many others.

Panjab University

Location: Chandigarh

Established: 1882

The University is residential and is spread over an area of 550 acres in sectors 14 as well as sector 25 of Chandigarh. But the University wasn’t always located here, “After the Partition in 1947, the University was constrained to function for almost a decade without a campus of its own. The administrative office was located at Solan and the teaching departments functioned from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Delhi and Amritsar. In 1956, it was relocated at Chandigarh. Pierre Jeanerette designed the red sandstone University campus under the general guidance of the legendary Le Corbusier”, says the official website.

Panjab University was ranked number one in India and 13th in the Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings in 2014.

Bangalore University

Location: Bangalore, Karnataka

Established: 1886

The British Government established Central College, Bangalore to award University degrees but in 1964 UGC renamed this college to Bangalore University. The Central College, Bangalore and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering which was established in 1912 were merged to form Bangalore University. The University in 1973 moved to the Jnana Bharathi campus which is spread over an area of 1,100 acres.

Bangalore University is known to have laid the foundation for setting up of other Universities such as Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences as well as Visvesvaraya Technological University.

Indian Veterinary Research Institute

Location: Izzatnagar, Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh

Established: 1889

Renamed in 1925 to be called Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), this research facility was earlier known by the name of Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory. The official website states, “The institute with faculty strength of more than 275 has a major mandate of research, teaching, consultancy and technology transfer activities”. It is further elaborated, “The institute’s research is currently addressed with clear benchmarking of deliverables through 157 research and 44 service projects. The institute undertake basic, advanced and applied research through 85 externally funded projects. Presently 19 National Agricultural Innovation Projects, 3 All India Network Projects, 3 Outreach Program and 26 DBT funded projects are operational. Besides these extramural funded programmes the institute is having 5 international collaborative projects with USA, UK, Australia, international organisation, IAEA, etc.”

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University

Location: Howrah, West Bengal

Established: 1902

This University is administered by the Ramakrishna Mission which was in turn established by Swami Vivekananda. In 2005, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University was given the status of a deemed university. The University has campuses located at Coimbatore, Belur, Narendrapur and Ranchi.

Courses on offer at this University are on rural and tribal development, disability management and special education, fundamental science education and Indian cultural and spiritual heritage.

Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya

Location: Haridwar, Uttrakhand

Established: 1902

Swami Shraddhanandaji founded Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya on March 4, 1902 in order to revive the ancient Indian gurukula system of education. “This institution was established with the objective of providing an indigenous alternative to Lord Macaulay’s education policy by imparting education in the areas of vedic literature, Indian philosophy, Indian culture, modern sciences and research.It is a deemed to be university fully funded by UGC/Govt. of India”, says the official website. It is further elaborated that, “As part of its policies for the up-liftment of women in the country, Kanya Gurukula Campus, Dehradun was established in 1922 by Acharya Ramdevji as a second campus of women’s education. To give real shape to the dreams of Swami Shraddhanandaji, Kanya Gurukula Campus, Hardwar was established in 1993”.

Indian Agricultural Research Institute

Location: Pusa, Bihar

Established: 1905

Popularly known as Pusa Institute, Indian Agricultural Research Institute was established with a grant of 30,000 pounds from Mr. Henry Phipps, an American philanthropist. Talking about the early days of this institute, the official website states, “The institute was then known as Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) which functioned with five departments, namely Agriculture, Cattle Breeding, Chemistry, Economic Botany and Mycology. Bacteriology unit was added in 1907. The name of ARI was changed to Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911 and, in 1919 it was renamed as Imperial Agricultural Research Institute. Following a devastating earth quake on 15th January 1934, the institute was shifted to Delhi on 29th July 1936. Post independence, the institute has been renamed as Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).”

It is further added that, “Currently, the Institute has 20 divisions, 5 multi-disciplinary centres situated in Delhi, 8 regional stations, 2 off-season nurseries, 3 All India coordinated research projects with headquarters at IARI and 10 national Centres functioning under the all India coordinated research projects. It has the sanctioned staff strength of 3540 comprising scientific, technical, administrative and supporting personnel”.

Jamia Hamdard University

Location: New Delhi

Established: 1906

Established with an aim to spread Unani system of medicine, Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed purchased a piece of land in Tughlaqabad area of South Delhi.

Jamia Hamdard University was conceived as a seat of higher learning in Unani medicine, Islamic studies, biosciences, pharmacy, nursing and other areas of knowledge. Currently this educational institute offers graduate programmes in information technology and computer applications and post-graduate programmes in information technology, computer applications, business management, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences

Location: Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

Established: 1910

Formerly known as Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHIATS) is a government aided deemed university which was established by Dr Sam Higginbottom. In 1942, the institute became the premier educational institute to offer an agricultural engineering degree.

The academic infrastructure of the university is organised into eight faculties which are further divided into 22 constituent schools. SHIATS contains 78 academic departments along with three research centres which lay emphasis on agricultural, scientific, research and technological education.

King George's Medical University

Location: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Established: 1911

In 1870, the Maharaja of Vijaynagaram first floated the idea of starting a medical college in Lucknow and offered to donate Rs 3 lakhs but the Government did not approve it. “The medical college was formally opened in October 1911, the year when His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary visited India, by the then Lt Governor of United Provinces - Sir John Prescott Hewett”, states the official website. The first hospital associated with King George's Medical University was built in 1914, and was called King George Hospital.

This University for a brief time was also referred to as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University. The university campus, at present, is spread over an area of approximately 100,000 sq metres.

Other related articles:

Heritage Universities of India - Part 1

Top 25 Universities in India