University of Calcutta alias Calcutta University was founded by the British in India in the year 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.

Growth:

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 Churches 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 growth of this University exhilarated under the vice chancellorship of Sir Ashtosh Mukherji. 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 .

Campus:

The original campus houses most of the humanities department, the central library and the university offices. The old University Science College at Rajabazar has been supplemented by an imposing complex in Ballyganj. The Law college and some humanities departments are also housed in this Ballyganj Branch. Economics department is on the B. T. Road (commonly known as "Kaa(n)ta Kol") close to the Biswa Bharari Campus. A new branch has been set up in New Alipore relocating some of the humanities and science department.

Colleges and Affiliated Colleges and Institutions:

There are some seventy colleges in the inner city. In 87-88, Calcutta University had 162 affiliated colleges in all, as well as the postgraduate departments

Departments:

The departments of Ancient Indian History and culture, Applied Mathematics and the Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics are the state designed centres of advanced study in those fields. Medium of Instruction: The language of instruction is English. Though instructions in mother tongue is also common.

Distinguished Scholars:

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