ST JOHN`S COLLEGE, AGRA

St. John's College, Agra, is a Christian college under the Church of North India, established in 1850 by the Church Missionary Society of England along with the Agra C.M.S. Association. Its first principal was Rev. Thomas Valpy French. The college was affiliated with the University of Calcutta from 1862 to 1888, later with the University of Allahabad, and in 1927 became affiliated with the newly formed Agra University, now Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University. It has offered postgraduate courses since 1893. The college celebrated its centenary in 1952, with a Centenary Wing whose foundation stone was laid by S. Radhakrishnan in 1957 and inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959. Today, it is co-educational with a men-women ratio of 45:55, offering courses under five faculties, sixteen postgraduate departments, and several self-financed programs including B.Com. (vocational), B.B.A., B.Ed., and M.A. (Urdu). The campus includes a central library with over 90,000 books, residence halls named Davis House and Bishop French Hostel, and numerous student societies covering cultural, scientific, and service activities. The college also runs a study centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University.