Nichols College is a private business college in Dudley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1931 as Nichols Junior College, Nichols College offers both bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as certificate programs.

The institution was established in 1815 as Nichols Academy. Its founder was Amasa Nichols, a wealthy industrialist from Dudley, Massachusetts. Early benefactors of the academy included textile manufacturers such as Samuel Slater and Hezekiah Conant. As a Universalist, Amasa Nichols intended for the school to be a center for Universalist education. He resigned his position as an academy trustee in 1823, after non-Universalists were admitted to the board of directors. Nichols Academy subsequently became a private academy offering either a "classical" or "English" education to both male and female students ages 12 to 21. Conant donated three buildings during the 1800s; Academy Hall, Conant Hall and the Chapel.

After free public schools opened in the surrounding area, enrollment dropped, and Nichols Academy trustees arranged with the town for the school to serve as the Dudley town high school beginning in 1871, an arrangement that lasted until 1909 when the academy closed its doors. The campus buildings, designed by such architects as Elbridge Boyden and Charles F. Wilcox, were then used by the town and leased to other educational institutions over time.

In 1931, James L. Conrad founded Nichols Junior College of Business Administration and Executive Training on the former campus of Nichols Academy. The purpose of the school was to be a men-only, junior college for business education. In 1938, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts authorized Nichols Junior College to award an Associate Degree in Business Administration. Over time, the college purchased, constructed, and remodeled over forty-four buildings that would shape most of the current campus.

In 1958, the school became known as Nichols College, a four-year college with the authority to grant a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. In 1965, Nichols became accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and became a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the following year. In 1971, the school became co-educational, and the state authorized the college to award the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and Bachelor of Science in Public Administration. In 1974, Nichols received the authority to grant the degree of Master of Business Administration. The college was accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education in 2005. In 2007, the college was granted authority to offer the degree of Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, and in 2017, the degree of Master of Science in Counterterrorism.

Since 1961, Nichols College has run the Alpha Pi chapter of the Delta Mu Delta honor society for business programs. Since 1980, it has also run their local chapter of the Alpha Phi Sigma honor society for criminal justice programs.

In 1980, the school established the Institute for American Values, later renamed the Robert C. Fischer Policy and Cultural Institute in 1999, as a space for students to think critically about contemporary world issues.

In 2013, the Institute for Women's Leadership was established with the goal of developing the leadership potential of female students. In that same year, the school hosted the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education Conference.