| City College | |||||||||||||||
| Native Name: | সিটি কলেজ | ||||||||||||||
| Image Alt: | City College Kolkata Amherst Street building | ||||||||||||||
| Caption: | Front view of City College, Kolkata | ||||||||||||||
| Motto: | Sanskrit: श्रद्धावान लभते ज्ञानम | ||||||||||||||
| Mottoeng: | The faithful attains knowledge | ||||||||||||||
| Type: | Public, Undergraduate co-educational college | ||||||||||||||
| President: | Sri Tapas Roy | ||||||||||||||
| Principal: | Dr. Sital Prasad Chattopadhyay | ||||||||||||||
| Head Label: | Vice-Principal | ||||||||||||||
| Head: | Dr. Mahitosh Gayen | ||||||||||||||
| Address: | 102/1, Raja Rammohan Sarani, College Street | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 700009
| ||||||||||||||
| Campus: | Urban | ||||||||||||||
| Language: | English, Bengali, Hindi | ||||||||||||||
| Former Names: | City School (1879-1881) | ||||||||||||||
| Free Label: | Admission Criteria | ||||||||||||||
| Free: | Merit based | ||||||||||||||
| Native Name Lang: | bn | ||||||||||||||
| Free Label2: | Courses Offered | ||||||||||||||
| Free2: | 16 | ||||||||||||||
| Colours: | Red and White | ||||||||||||||
City College is a composite state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It offers undergraduate level courses in various arts, commerce and science subjects. The college is very popular for undergraduate study in the neighborhood of Kolkata.
Anandamohan Bose, founder of the City College Kolkata, was a supporter of Brahmo religion during his student life. In 1869, he officially adopted Brahmo religion along with his wife Swarnaprabha Devi (sister of Jagadish Chandra Bose). However, young members of Brahmo Samaj (followers of the Brahmo religion) differed with Keshab Chandra Sen (founder of the Brahmo religion) regarding matters like child marriage, running of the Brahmo samaj and various other matters. Because of this difference, younger members of this society like Anandamohan Bose, Shibnath Shastri, Sib Chandra Deb, Umesh Chandra Dutta, etc. established the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1878. On 27 April 1879, Anandamohan Bose, first president of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, founded the Chhatrasamaj, the student's wing of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj movement. In 1879–81, he established the City College, Calcutta, as an initiative by the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj movement.[1]
The college started its journey with the Law department. In 1884, this college was elevated to a first grade degree college. By the year 1920, the college started to offer different undergraduate (BA/B.Sc) degree courses in arts and science. The college opened the Commerce department in 1939 and attained the position of the biggest college in Asia. Later, in 1943, Women's section was inaugurated.
It is one of the heritage institutions of Kolkata, and played a prominent role in the wake of the Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth century.[2] The college is located at 102/1, Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani (Amherst Street), Kolkata-700009. It shares premises with Rammohan College (morning college) and Anandamohan College (evening college).
In the year 1961 the branches of City College emerged as separate colleges under instructions of the University Grants Commission. While the original college retained the original name “City College”, the branches were named as 1. Rammohan College, 2. Ananda Mohan College, 3. Umesh Chandra College, 4. City College of Commerce and Business Administration, 5. Sivanath Sastri College, 6. Heramba Chandra College, and 7. Prafulla Chandra College. Together they are referred to as City group of college (Kolkata).[3]
The college offers different undergraduate and postgraduate courses and aims at imparting education to the undergraduates and postgraduates of upper-, lower- and middle-class people of Kolkata and its adjoining areas.[4]
Science faculty consists of the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Physiology, and Economics.
Arts and Commerce faculty consists of departments of Bengali, English, Sanskrit, History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Commerce.
The City College, Kolkata is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC).[5]
The college was accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2007, and awarded B+ grade.
In 2024, the college has applied for re-accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its second cycle and is awaiting for result.