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 the late Raja. The college was affiliated to
Madras University until 1936, when it was affiliated to
Patna University. 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.
Journey to University 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. 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. ==Academics==