Top University in West Bengal

The University of Burdwan had been founded by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, visionary Chief Minister of West Bengal, as a part of his master plan to expand the scope of higher education beyond the metropolis. Initiating its journey on the 15th June 1960 (West Bengal Act XXIX of 1959) with six postgraduate departments and thirty undergraduate colleges in the districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura, Burdwan and Hooghly except the Srirampur subdivision, the University of Burdwan has emerged as one of the premier institutions of higher education in India.

The University of Burdwan is privileged to inherit a large part of the royal estate of the erstwhile Burdwan Raj. Most important of this is the Mah?t?b Manjil, once the royal palace of the Mah?r?ja of Burdwan turned administrative centre of the university. The palace is named after R?j? Mah?t?b Chand (1832-79), who had turned Bardhaman from a small feudal outpost of south Bengal or R??hade?a to a rural town. The railways introduced the anglicised term Burdwan for Bardhaman of popular parlance, as also led to the shift of the royal hub from their old habitat, K?nchannagar on the bank of the river B?nk?, to the site now called R?jb?ti around which the sleepy town of Burdwan slowly unfurled itself in the post railway decades.

A marble plaque at the east gate refers to the construction of the Mah?t?b Manjil between 1849 and 1851 by British firm Macintosh & Co. representing a mix of styles of the East and the West. The part of the palace surviving the ravages of time has an approximate area of 80,000 square feet and 35 large halls with Italian marble tiled floor, sleek stairs pecked with wooden and iron engravings, and Gothic pillars. A unique edifice of the early nineteenth century Indo-European construction, Mah?t?b Manjil has been declared a heritage building by the Government of West Bengal on the 29th April 2013.

The university’s academic cluster is located in Gol?pb?g, royal rose garden of pristine beauty. Planned and executed by a British botanist in the mid nineteenth century, the pleasure park of the olden days is surrounded by a canal with a beautiful island (D?r-ul-B?h?r) at the centre of it. With nearly 1200 trees, 154 rare centuries’ old mahogany trees included, the historic Gol?pb?g has been recently declared by the Botanical Survey of India as the Bio-diversity Heritage site.