VIDYASAGAR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

Vidyasagar College, located in North Kolkata, West Bengal, is a state government-aided public college offering postgraduate and undergraduate courses in arts and science. It began as the Metropolitan Training School founded by Thakurdas Chakraborty in 1859, later renamed Metropolitan Institution in 1864. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who joined as President of the Managing Committee in 1860, secured university affiliation for the First Arts course, effective January 1872, making it the first private, Indian-run and Indian-financed college in the Presidency of Bengal. After Vidyasagar's death in 1891, the institution was renamed Vidyasagar College in 1917. It later introduced a Commerce Department in 1922, considered the oldest commerce teaching department in India, and developed separate evening and women's sections, which eventually became independent colleges. The college is affiliated with Calcutta University, regulated under UGC, and accredited by NAAC, following the semester-based CBCS system. It has three campuses in Kolkata—Main Campus, Bidhan Sarani Campus, and Bidhannagar Campus—offering 21 undergraduate departments and postgraduate courses in Geography and Zoology, along with a computer center accredited by the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology.