| Khallikote Unitary University | |
| Motto: | Tamso Ma Jyotirgamaya |
| Mottoeng: | From darkness, lead me to light |
| Established: | 1878 (as College) 2021 (as University) |
| Chancellor: | Governor of Odisha |
| Vice Chancellor: | Prafulla Kumar Mohanty |
| City: | Brahmapur, Odisha |
| Postalcode: | 760001 |
| Country: | India |
| Faculty: | 112[1] |
| Campus Size: | 16.72acres |
| Type: | Public |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Academic Affiliations: | UGC |
Khallikote Unitary University, formerly known as Khallikote Autonomous College, is a co-educational state university situated in Brahmapur, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Union College in 1878, the institution became a university in 2021.[2] The university has a student enrolment of nearly 5,000. It is one of the oldest educational institutes in Odisha.
[3] The present university began as a Government Zilla School in 1856 and later upgraded for Intermediate classes (F.A. classes) with the name of Union College in 1878. And subsequently changed its name to Native College. With major financial crisis in around 1893, for the survival of the institution the District Magistrate of Ganjam (A.W.B. Higgins, ICS) approached the Raja Saheb Harihar Mardaraj Deo of Khallikote who donated a lakh of rupees for the endowment fund. It was renamed in 1893 as Khallikote College in the honor of late Raja Saheb.
The college was affiliated to Madras University until 1936. After 1936, the college was affiliated to Patna University.[4] In 1944, Khallikote College started degree classes in Arts, Science and Commerce streams under Utkal University affiliation. Postgraduate programmes were introduced in four subjects in 1963. Then in 1967 this college became affiliated to Berhampur University after its establishment. The college management was handed over to Government of Odisha from 1971. The college has given autonomy since 1990 and renamed it as Khallikote Autonomous College.
The Khallikote Cluster University was established as the first cluster university in Odisha on 30 May 2015, under the RUSA scheme. It was started to give affiliation, resource distribution and to tackle staff crunch among age old Khallikote (Autonomous) College, Berhampur; Sashi Bhusan Rath Government Women's College, Berhampur; Binayak Acharya College, Berhampur; Government Science College, Chhatrapur; and Gopalpur College, Gopalpur. The cluster headquarter was in the Khallikote College campus. By 2021, the cluster university has ceased its operations and merged with Berhampur University.[5]
With major amendments, Khallikote Autonomous College has been upgraded and has given the status of a new Unitary University in the state of Odisha from 1 August 2021.[6]
The university currently has twenty-two departments.[7]