The college was founded on 26 July 1948 in memory of the prominent Indian educator and nationalist Mahatma Hansraj. Initially started as an institution for men, the college became co-educational in 1978. It is one of the most prestigious college of university of Delhi. With over 3,000 students, it is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Delhi. For years Hans Raj College has been ranked among the Top-10 colleges of India in all three disciplines. At the celebration of its 69th Foundation Day, Naveen Jindal, industrialist and alumnus, announced that Hans Raj College would become the first college to hoist the national flag on its premises. The college hoisted the Monumental Flag on 25 January 2017 which happens to be the second Monumental Flagpole in Delhi after CP. The flag was hoisted by MP Naveen Jindal, an alumnus of the college and founder of Flag Foundation of India.
Ranking
It was ranked at 4th best by India Today in 2019.
Academics
The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in various streams. These are B.A, B.A, B.Sc, B.Sc and B.Com at the UG level. And M.A, M.Sc and M.Com at the PG level. It also offers job-oriented add-on certificate courses. These include: Radio Jockeying, Anchoring & TV Journalism; Acting and Filmmaking; Mass Communication, Advertising & Marketing. The college receives support under the strengthening component in relation to the Star College initiative of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In addition to this, the college has worked on the future publication of the research journal "Hans Shodh Shikhar" to publish research in fields across the sciences, commerce and arts. The Finance and Economics Research Cell of the college also conducts programs to promote undergraduate research in these fields.
Admission process
Hansraj College undergoes the standard admissions process of the University of Delhi. In order to apply to this college for an undergraduate course, the student has to fill out a central form that is released by the university itself. After a few weeks of the deadline of the forms, Delhi University publicly releases cut off lists for each individual course for all of the undergraduate courses across the university. A student wishing to apply for a course at Hansraj can look at the cut-off and matches his or her 12th-grade percentage with the same. If the 12th-grade percentage is equal to or greater than the percentage in the cut-off, the student is eligible. Generally, the cutoff percentage lies at ~97% in the 12th Class Finals.
Sports
The college has facilities for both outdoor and indoor games. It has a Sports ground and a Basketball court between the college and the hostel premises. It is one of the few colleges in the country to possess an indoor badminton court and an indoor shooting range. The student have won University, State and National level championships in Pistol Shooting, Archery, Water Polo, Basketball, Badminton, Cricket etc. The performance of its team in Lawn Tennis, Swimming, Table-Tennis, etc. has been equally commendable. In Chess, Polo and other individual events too, the College has performed well. The College won the Chancellor's Trophy in 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and for last four academic sessions from 2011 to 2015 for overall excellence in sports. Sport facilities are made available to all students under the program : Games For All. Existing facilities are continuously upgraded and improved.
