Serampore College

Serampore College was founded in 1818 by English missionaries William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward to give an education in Arts and Sciences to students of every 'caste, colour or country' and to train a ministry for the growing Church in India. From the beginning the College has been ecumenical, but this means that it has no automatic basis of support from any one branch of the Christian church. Prior to 1818, the Serampore Trio had worked together in providing education for their own children and the children -- including females -- of the native Indians.

Since Serampore was then a Danish colony, King Frederick the Sixth, the King of Denmark, issued Serampore College its Royal Charter of Incorporation on February 23, 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.

After February 22, 1845 when Denmark sold all of its Indian assets to Great Britain the management and operation of the College continued without interruption under the direction of a Master and Council. In 1856, the Baptist Missionary Society in England took over the management of the College, and in 1857, the College became affiliated with the newly established University of Calcutta and became a constituent college of that university.

In 1883, the College closed as an Arts College and began functioning as a Christian Training Institution and a theological institute for the Baptist Churches in Bengal. Affiliating again with the University of Calcutta in 1911, Serampore College, in 1913, was authorised to award the Bachelor of Arts degree. The College faculty was interdenominational.

On December 4, 1915, the first group of Bachelor of Divinity students graduated:

• Rev. I. W. Johory, Professor in the Canadian Mission College, Indore;
• Rev. N. G. Kuriakos, a priest in the Orthodox Syrian Church; and
• Mr. D. M. Devasahayam, London Missionary Society, South India.

Between 1916 and 1927, sixty-nine further students earned their Bachelor of Divinity degrees through Serampore College.

During the Centenary Year of the College in 1918, the Bengal Legislative Council passed the Serampore College Act (1918 Act, i, 1918 Act, ii, 1918 Act, iii, 1918 Act, iv) for the purpose of enlarging the College Council and forming a new interdenominational Senate that would confer theological degrees for all Christian denominations in India. By 1960, twenty other Indian colleges and seminaries affiliated themselves with Serampore.

The name of the College and its founders are honoured today more widely than just within Christian circles – the Carey Library at Serampore houses 16,000 rare volumes and is used by scholars from across the world.

The Hindu saint Paramahansa Yogananda was an alumnus of this college and the Scottish Church College.

External Links

• Information from Banglapedia.com (http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0212.htm)
• Serampore College website (http://education.vsnl.com/seramporecollege)
• Friends of Serampore College (http://www.friendsofserampore.org.uk/index.htm)