Presidency University Recruitment 2023 For Junior Research Fellow , Walk-in Interview

The Hindoo College, established in 1817, was transformed into the Presidency College of Bengal in 1855. The Hindoo College was the earliest institution of higher learning in the modern sense in Asia. The Presidency College introduced western education in the historical sense of the term and was originally a non-government college meant for the sons of the Hindu community alone. But the Centenary Volume (1955) notes: The most striking feature of the Hindu College was its determined effort to impart secular education. In 1855 when the Hindoo College was renamed Presidency College, it became a government institution. The college now represented non-denominational secularism and admitted young men from all communities. However, it was only in 1944 that girls were permitted to join the college. Since then, the college has been a co-educational institution.The Hindoo-Presidency College, which aimed from the beginning at a liberal, scientific and secular education, stood on the side of the Anglicists in the famous Anglicist-Orientalist debate. This meant that the college stood for modern, western education in the English medium. This, however, would not entail a neglect of Indian themes and subjects. This was borne out by the contribution of the students of the college to Bengali language and literature. 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, but teaching of these was discontinued later. Consequently, the college emerged as the most celebrated institution in India to impart a humanistic and scientific education.