Serampore is a small town on the westbank of the river Hooghly which is a part of the river Ganges. It is situated 20 kms North-west-north from Calcutta. It is an hour and a half drive from the Calcutta Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Airport and is the eighth railway station from Howrah on the Bandel Main line.

Note: The Hooghly is the main tributary of the Ganges River Delta.

Since Serampore was a Danish Colony from 1755 to 1845, the Baptist missionaries were given all encouragement to develop their educational enterprise by the Danish Governors, Colonel Bie and his successor Colonel Krefting. Joshua Marshman visited Copenhagen and secured from the King of Denmark, Fredrick the Sixth, a Royal Charter (1827) with university rights, empowering the College to confer degrees in all subjects. In other words, Serampore College was considered the third University of Denmark, the other two being at Copenhagen and Kiel.

In 1845, when the Danish settlement was purchased by the British, the treaty of purchase included provisions for maintaining the rights and immunities granted to the College by the Royal Charter, 1827.  

Serampore College became the first university of any kind in India.

Rev. Dr Lalchungunga

Principle Serampore College