Serampore College

Serampore College is located in Serampore, in West Bengal, India. Established in 1818, it is the fourth oldest college in the country after Old Seminary, Kottayam (Established 1815), CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College in Kolkata, and one of the oldest continuously operating educational institutes in India. The college consists of two entities: The theological faculty and a separate college with faculties of arts, science, commerce.

The Senate of Serampore College (University) is in charge of the academic administration of all the theological colleges affiliated with it. The council of Serampore College holds a Danish charter and had the power to confer degrees in any subject, which it currently exercises only for conferring theological degrees as recommended by the senate.

Degrees to students at the college in the fields of arts, science and commerce are awarded by the University of Calcutta.

For theology, the college is affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College, with which several theological colleges and seminaries all over India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are affiliated.

The college motto is from Proverbs 3:35 in the Vulgate: Gloriam Sapientes Possidebunt, "The wise shall possess glory."

The Serampore Trio - William Ward, William Carey, & Joshua Marshman, started the college with 37 students in 1818. King Frederick VI of Denmark originally granted a Royal Charter giving Serampore College the status of a university to confer degrees on 23 February 1827. It became the third Danish University after the ones in Copenhagen and Kiel. With the later establishment of the University of Calcutta in 1857 the arts, science and commerce parts of Serampore College were affiliated to the University of Calcutta. However, Serampore College still today continues to enjoy the privilege of conferring its own degrees in theology under the power vested by the Charter and Act of Serampore College. It is a private Grant-in-aid Minority College and is recognized by the University Grants Commission under Section 2(f) and 12(b) of the UGC Act, 1956.

Since Serampore was then a Danish colony, King Frederick VI, the King of Denmark, issued Serampore College its Royal Charter of Incorporation on 23 February 1827, in Copenhagen, Denmark (Charter, 1, Charter, 2, Charter, 3). The charter came in response to Joshua Marshman's visit to King Frederick in August 1826; the charter gave Serampore College the privilege of awarding degrees in Arts and Theology. William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and John Clark Marshman (Joshua's son) were designated as members of the first Council. At its opening, the Trio released a prospectus which proposed "A College for the instruction of Asiatic Christian and other Youth in Eastern Literature and European Science." The college was open to all persons of any caste or creed, and the founders ensured that no denominational test would apply to faculty members. The charter has also been confirmed by the Bengal Govt Act. IV of 1918.

The status accorded by the Danish Charter has since been re-affirmed for the study of Theology and now forms the basis for degrees of all levels conferred by over forty theological colleges throughout India, and is administered by the Senate.It was incorporated by Royal Charter of 1827 and Bengal Government Act. IV of 1918.