Senate of Serampore College (University)


The Senate of Serampore College is located in Serampore in West Bengal, India. Serampore was granted the status of university in 1829, making it India's first institution to have the status of a university.
The college was founded by the missionaries Joshua Marshman, William Carey 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.

The Senate

The Senate of Serampore College runs the academic administration of all its affiliated theological colleges. The Council of Serampore College holds a Danish charter and has the power to confer degrees in any subject, however it currently exercises this right only for conferring theological degrees, as recommended by the Senate.
The present master is The Rev.John S. Sadananda, Bishop Emeritus of Karnataka Southern Diocese of the CSI.
Several theological colleges and seminaries all over India, as well as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, are affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College.

Authority to issue degrees and accreditation

King Frederick VI of Denmark originally granted a Royal Charter giving the Senate of Serampore College the status of a degree granting university. The Senate of Serampore College is a university within the meaning of Section 2 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 .
Serampore was the first institution to be given the status of a university in India. It confers its own degrees in Theology under the power vested by the Charter and Act of Serampore College.

History

Since Serampore was then a Danish colony, King Frederick VI, the King of Denmark, issued Serampore College its Royal Charter of Incorporation on 23 February 1827, in Copenhagen, Denmark. 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 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.

Degrees awarded

Presently, the Senate of Serampore College restricts itself to award of degrees pertaining to theology.
The following are the degrees awarded to students through its affiliated colleges throughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka:

Internal

Graduate programmes

Registrarships of the university

  • 1919–1920; 1922–1926, The Rev. John Drake, M.A.,
  • 1921, 1926–1929, The Rev. G. H. C. Angus, B. D.,
  • 1929–1949, The Rev. C. E. Abraham, M.A.,
  • 1949–1954, The Rev. W. W. Winfield, B. D.,
  • 1954–1959, The Rev. William Stewart, M.A.,
  • 1960–1975, The Rev. C. Devasahayam, Th.M.,
  • 1975–1978, The Rev. J. T. Krogh, Cand. Theol.,
  • 1978–2004, The Rev. D. S. Satyaranjan, Th.D.,
  • 2004–2013, The Rev. Y. R. Tiwari, Ph.D.,
  • 2013–present, The Rev. Santanu Patro, D. Th.

External

Diploma programmes

Other affiliated centres

Affiliated centres as of 2014 for the purpose of Diploma in Clinical Pastoral Counselling.