Ravenshaw is the oldest and the best known centre for higher education in Odisha. It has a legacy of 150 years as a College and is proud to have trained some of the best minds. And yet, it is a young University which is hardly twelve years old. Formal transition is complete; but the transformation is yet to take shape. The old is in the process of giving way to a new institution, not simply in name, but also in its philosophy, outlook and objectives. We are striving to carry on the legacy of Ravenshaw, while at the same time, laying the foundations for a first rate research university.
Ravenshaw University is the first university in the State of Odisha to have earned ‘A’ accreditation in the very first visit by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Bolstered by the distinction accorded in recognition of the university’s contribution to research and teaching, Ravenshaw University has embarked on an even more ambitious programme of research by setting up two Centres of Excellence: 1) Centre for Environment and Public Health and 2) Centre for Odishan Studies. Four more independent Research Centres have also been set up: Centre for Aurobindo Studies and Futurology, Centre for Translation and Digital Humanities, Centre for Women’s Studies and Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Plans are afoot to set up a few more specialized centres of research in the university’s magnificent Greenfield New Campus, spread over about 124 acres, at the head of Mahanadi Delta in Naraj.
History
Ravenshaw University came into existence on the 15th day of November, 2006. It was an up-gradation of Ravenshaw College established in 1868, one of the oldest and largest colleges in India which subsequently became an autonomous college and was accorded CPE status by UGC and ‘A’ grade by NAAC. The College with all its glorious academic achievement and ceaseless scholastic pursuits had already created a distinct niche for itself in India and beyond. The history of this great institution is, in a manner of speaking, the history of modern Orissa. It was the cradle of ideas fostering national unity and nationalism, promoting social mobilization and gearing up the freedom struggle. The grand hall of this institution was a theatre of history: on 1 April 1936 it was the venue for the declaration of Orissa as a separate province; thereafter it housed the state’s first legislative assembly up to and even after Independence till it was shifted to Bhubaneswar, the new capital of the state.
The College originally was affiliated to Calcutta University and thereafter to Patna University in 1917 and was finally affiliated to Utkal University in 1943. The Utkal University began functioning from this campus till it was shifted to its present site at Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar. This institution is the alma mater of the most distinguished personalities of the state. Not only the Utkal University but also the Orissa State Museum and Madhusudan Law College are the offshoots of this Institution and obtained their independent status at a later stage.
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