About The College

Maulana Azad College has developed itself over the years and retains its prestigious position as the foremost of institutions. Our Alumni occupy distinguished positions in almost all spheres of in several fields of activity both in the country as well as abroad. It has been a long journey through the eighty-five years and yet the journey has perhaps just begun.

The College has practiced a policy of self-renewal all along and when the time came to reinvent itself in the context of the changing scenario; it has upgraded itself with the introduction of three post-graduates.

The College seeks to create an intellectual environment that enhances individual growth and supports scholarly activities and creative endeavors that augment human knowledge and understanding.

History

With an objective to promote Islamic learning and general education among the Muslim population in British India and with the sustained efforts of contemporary education minister of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Haque, on December 9, 1924, Lord Lytton, the contemporary Governor of Bengal laid the foundation stone of Islamia College under the affiliation of University of Calcutta. The journey started under the leadership of The Principal, Mr. A. H. Harley, formerly, faculty of Oriental Languages, Edinburg University, UK.

Post-independence, the college was renamed as Central Calcutta College and generously moved beyond religious barrier and was open for all male students. The leadership responsibility was rendered by Professor F. J. F. Pereira.

In 1960, the final baptism held as Maulana Azad College in the memory of the great national leader, erudite scholar and the first education minister of the independent India-Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In 1990, the college was declared as co-educational institution. Gradually, the institution evolved as an academic place of harmonious co-existence amidst the plurality of gender, language, culture and religion.

Maulana Azad College has witnessed footsteps of eminent scholarly dedicated teachers like Bishnu Dey, Professor of English. The college has produced distinguished and notable nationalists, politicians, educationists, judges, ministers, novelists, IAS, IPS and WBCS officers. No surprise that Bangabandhu Sk. Mujibur Rahaman leads its alumni list.

Status

The college has been affiliated to the University of Calcutta since its inception.

The college functions under the administrative control of The Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal.

Accreditation

Maulana Azad College is accredited A-grade with Grade Point of 3.13 by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its Cycle-II assessment in the year 2016.

The College Campus

The college has a three storied building with an impressive hall, a seminar room and two four storied annexe buildings which are maintained by the P.W.D.

The approach road is surrounded by a sprawling garden which is regularly maintained by the P.W.D., Alumni of the College and the college staff and there is also sufficient parking space.

The building was conferred the status of a heritage building by Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Location

The College is located in the heart of the Kolkata. The address is 8 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Kolkata-700013.It is easily accessible by bus, metro and rail. The distance from Dharamtala Bus stand is 800 meters, the distance from Esplanade Metro station is 750 meters, the distance from Sealdah Railway station is 1.9 kilometre, the distance from Howrah Railway Station is 4.6 kilometre, and the distance from Netaji Subhas Airport is 20 kilometre. The college is an attractive choice for the students not only from the Kolkata and the districts of Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Pgs and South 24 Pgs., but also from the other districts, states and countries.

Infrastructure:

• College Campus: The College has a 5 acre campus in the heart of the city of Kolkata, which comprises of a Heritage Building and an Annex Building. The college has a traditional Char-Bagh (four gardens) as its facade and one of these serves as a well maintained ‘medicinal plant' garden.
• Principal's Office is located in the Ground Floor of the main building of the college. The office is fully computerised with internet & LAN facilities.
• Student's Section (Office) is situated in the Ground Floor of Annexe Building of the college. This section monitors the collection and distribution of student's documents; admission, registration, examination and review system. Different fees of the students are also collected here. The office is fully computerised and with internet & LAN facilities.
• Hostel Facility: The College has a Boys' Hostel and an upcoming Girls' Hostel situated nearby.
• Classrooms & Laboratories:  Thirty Six Classrooms and Twenty two modern Laboratories are there in the College, many of which are fully ICT enabled. Laboratories are spacious, up to date and all are well equipped with sophisticated instruments/equipments. Besides, there is a Central Instrumentation Facility, separate plant and animal tissue-culture laboratories and a CPCSEA approved Animal House. In addition to that, seven well equipped Research Laboratories are there.
• LAN & Wi-Fi connectivity: Local Area Networking connections are operative in Office, Student section, Library, Staff-room, and in science departments. A new IQAC Room and Alumni Room have also been created with the similar facility. The College offers limited Wi-Fi connectivity for students and teachers.
• Seminar Hall: The College Hall (Raza Washat Ali Memorial Hall) having a sitting capacity of nearly 200, is used for national/international seminars or multi departmental seminars. The newest feather in the cap is a plush, air-conditioned ICT-enabled Seminar Hall.
• Boys' and Girls' Common Rooms: There are separate Boys' and Girls' Common Rooms.
• Gymnasiums: Separate Boys' and Girls' Gymnasiums are there in the college with all modern facilities.
• Play Ground: A playground-cum-staff quarter complex is there at 33, Gorachand Road, Kolkata.
• Indoor/outdoor Game Facilities: Provisions for outdoor games like Soccer, Cricket, Athletics and indoor games like Badminton, Table-Tennis, Carom, and Chess are there.
• Canteen: there is a canteen for students and staff in the college which offers palatable foods at affordable price.
• CCTV surveillance has been installed in the college campus and in the hostels.
• Library: The Library of Maulana Azad College possesses approximately 1,00,000 books, including a huge number of rare books, Manuscripts, Reference books like dictionaries, thesaurus, and encyclopaedias etc. The Rare Book Section of the Library mainly consists of books in Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English.

• The Central Library lends books to the Students who are its members. There are Departmental Seminar Libraries for the Honours and PG students of the various departments which also have lending services.
• Reading room facilities and reference services are also available in the Central Library.
• The Library provides internet facility as well.
• All sections of the library are computerized. It has a large reading room with air-conditioned facility.
• The library is connected with INFLIBNET and DELNET. Interested Library members may obtain the Password to browse the e- resources.
• Library membership card is issued to the interested students as per the Library Notice.