. With the creation of the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1773 many
Hindus of
Bengal showed an eager interest in learning the English language.
David Hare, in collaboration with
Raja Radhakanta Deb had already taken steps to introduce English language education in Bengal. Babu Buddinath Mukherjee advanced the introduction of English as a medium of instruction further by enlisting the support of Sir
Edward Hyde East,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Fort William, who called a meeting of 'European and Hindu Gentlemen' at his house in May 1816. The purpose of the meeting was to "discuss the proposal to establish an institution for giving a liberal education to the children of the members of the Hindu Community". The proposal was received with unanimous approbation and a donation of over Rs. 100,000 was promised for setting up the new college. The 5 Babus who contributed the most in setting up the college with their donations were - Raja
Gopi Mohun Deb of
Shovabazar Raj, Maharaja Tej Chandra of
Bardhaman Raj, Raja
Gopi Mohan Tagore of
Pathuriaghata, Babu Joy Krishna Singha of
Jorasanko, and Babu Ganga Narayan Das.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy showed full support for the scheme, but chose not to come out in support of the proposal publicly for fear of "alarming the prejudices of his orthodox countrymen and thus marring the whole idea". Other eminent personalities of
Calcutta at that time, such as
Rani Rashmoni,
Prince Dwarkanath Tagore,
Babu Rajchandra Das and
Mutty Lall Seal also donated hefty amounts towards the foundation of the College. At first, the classes were held at Gorachand Bysack house called Garanhatta (later renamed 304, Chitpore Road), which was rented by the college. In January 1818 the college moved to 'Feringhi Kamal Bose's house in Chitpore. From Chitpore, the college moved to
Bowbazar and later to the building that now houses the
Sanskrit College on
College Street.
Transformation to university On 19 March 2010, the
Government of West Bengal passed the Presidency University Bill, 2009 in the State Legislative Assembly. On 7 July 2010, the then
Governor of West Bengal,
M. K. Narayanan gave his assent to the Presidency University Bill. On 23 July 2010, the Government of West Bengal published the gazette notification completing all the legal formalities for presidency to become a full university.
Amiya Bagchi was given the responsibility of chairing a committee set up to select and appoint the first vice-chancellor of the university.
Amita Chatterjee, a retired professor of philosophy at
Jadavpur University, was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University on 5 October 2010. In 2011, Higher Education Minister
Bratya Basu suggested that a mentor group, along the lines of the Nalanda mentor group, would be formed to oversee the work of the university. At the beginning of June 2011, the Chief Minister of West Bengal,
Mamata Banerjee, announced that a committee would be formed with
Amartya Sen as its chief mentor and Harvard-based
Sugata Bose as its chairman to oversee the running of the college and perform the task of appointing all its officials and faculty members. The Presidency mentor group also includes as its members 2019 Economics
Nobel Prize winner
Abhijit Banerjee,
Ashoke Sen, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya,
Nayanjot Lahiri,
Himadri Pakrashi,
Rahul Mukerjee and
Isher Judge Ahluwalia,
Swapan Kumar Chakravorty.
Sukanta Chaudhuri resigned from the committee in 2012. The entrance of the campus is marked with a small guardhouse on the left. On the wall of the guard room is a plaque dedicated to durwan (guard) Ram Eqbal Singh, who died defending the institute from rioters. The university held its bicentenary celebrations in 2017. ==Campus==