| About College |
There are three distinct phases in the evolution of the University.
In the first phase (1887 to 1921), it was a centrally-funded Affiliating University exercising jurisdiction over higher and secondary education in a wide area in northern and central India, comprising the present-day States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In 1905 it initiated teaching and research under its ownaegis, by establishing the Departments of Law (1905), Economics (1908) History (1912), research fellowships, libraries and laboratories. The eminence of the faculty of its teaching Departments, the Muir Central College (the premier affiliate, founded in 1873 at Allahabad) and several other reputed Affiliated Colleges, earned high regard for the University within and outside India. Some of the Colleges themselves matured into Universities the Banaras Hindu University (1916), the Aligarh Muslim University (1920) and the Lucknow and Nagpur Universities (1920 and 1923).
The second phase (1921-1950) began with the reorganization of the University as a provincially-funded unitary teaching University, comprising its own teaching Departments and the Departments of the Muir Central College (which was merged with the University,). The other Affiliated Colleges were initially grouped under the External Wing of the University and then handed over (in 1927) to the newly-incorporated, University of Agra in 1927, and the responsibility for secondary education was transferred (in 1922) to the U. P Board of High School and Intermediate Education. In the ensuing three decades, under the stewardship of celebrated Vice-Chancellors (Sir Ganganatha Jha, Pt. Iqbal Narain Gurtu, Prof. Amaranatha Jha and Prof. Tara Chand) and the academic leadership of illustrious faculty, the University took determined steps to enlarge its intellectual and educational ambit and gave a lead in national emancipation. Several teachers and students played a prominent role in the national struggle, particularly from 1930, and the University solemnly recalls with pride the martyrdom of its student Lal Padmadhar Singh during the Quit India Movement.
The scholars who gave a distinctive flavour to the academic ambience of the University, from its first venture into teaching in 1905, are too numerous to be named individually, and included such legendary figures as Amaranatha Jha, Raghupati Sahai "Firaq", S. C. Deb and P. E. Dastoor (English), H. N. Randle, R. D. Ranade and A. C. Mukerji (Philosophy), L. F. Rushbrook Williams, Sir Shafaat Ahmad Khan, R. P. Tripathi (History), Syed Muhammad Ali Nami and M. G. Zubaid Ahmad (Arabic and Persian), P. K. Acharya, Babu Ram Saxena and Kshetresh Chandra Chattopadhyaya (Sanskrit), Dhirendra Verma, Devi Prasad Shukla and Ram Kumar Verma (Hindi), Syed M. Zamin Ali and Muhammad Hafiz Syed (Urdu), Beni Prasad, Tara Chand, Ishwari Prasad (all three being historians of repute) and A. B. Lal (Politica Science), R. N. Dubey (Geography), P. S. Naidu (Education), Meghnad Saha, K. S Krishnan, D. S. Kothari, Salig Ram Bhargava, R. N. Ghosh G. B. Deodhar and K Banerjee (Physics), N. R Dhar, Satyeshwar Ghosh and Satya Prakash (Chemistry), A C. Banerji, Gorakh Prasad, P. L. Srivastava and B. N. Prasad (Mathematics), J. H. Mitter, Shri Ranjan, R. K. Saxena and R. N. Tandon (Botany), D. R. Bhattacharya and H. R. Mehra (Zoology), H. Stanley Jevons, S. K. Rudra, C. D. Thompson, B. P. Adarka and J. K. Mehta (Economics), M. K. Ghosh and R. C. Choudhury (Commerce) and J C. Weir, M. U. S. Jung, K. K. Bhattacharya, K. R. R. Sastry and T. N. Sapru (Law) During this "Golden Age", the University was often referred to as "the Oxford of the East". |
