About Utal University

Utal University is a State Government Teaching-cum-affiliating University established in the year 1943. It is the seventeenth oldest University in India. The foundation stone of the campus was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, on 1st January 1958, and the campus was inaugurated by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the second President of India, on 2nd January 1963. Utkal University at present has 27 Post-Graduate Departments located in its campus for studies and research in the disciplines of Science, Humanities, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Law and Commerce. It is also the largest affiliating university in the country having 359 affiliated general colleges including 16 Autonomous Colleges, 94 Professional Colleges, 9 Law Colleges and 7 Medical Colleges, which include 2 Homeopathic, 1 Ayurvedic, 2 Dental and 2 Allopathic Medical Colleges. Its campus is located on a sprawling 399.9 acre area in the heart of Bhubaneswar, with the Sainik School to its north, National High way No.5 to its south, Regional Research Laboratory and Institute of Physics to its west and the South Eastern Railway line to its east.

The establishment of Utkal University goes back to time, when Odisha was made into a separate province during 1936 and all its colleges were under the jurisdiction of either Patna University or Andhra University. In 1938, the government of Odisha, headed by Shri Biswanath Dash, the then Prime Minister; appointed a committee on 2nd March, the same year with Pandit Nilakantha Das as its Chairman to examine the possibility of establishing a separate university in Odisha. Then, during the premiership of Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, who played a pioneering role in the establishment of the University, the recommendations of this committee were made available. Pandit Godavarish Mishra, the then Minister of Education, introduced the Utkal University Bill, which was passed by the Odisha Legislative Assembly on 30th June 1943. On receiving the Governor’s assent on 2nd August 1943, the Utkal University Act, 1943 came into force, clearing the way for the foundation of Utkal University on 27th November 1943. The University started functioning from this date in room no. 15 of Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. The Utkal University Act, 1943 did not specify clearly the territorial jurisdiction of the University. However, its jurisdiction was extended to include the princely states of Odisha by an agreement between the rulers of these princely states and the Government of Odisha. The Utkal University Act, 1943 was amended in 1947 defining the territorial jurisdiction of the University, which was subsequently extended to the whole state of Odisha in 1950. However, with the establishment of other regional universities over a due period of time its jurisdiction was reduced. Utkal University now has jurisdiction over 9 districts, namely Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri. Thus, the University exercises territorial jurisdiction over an area measuring 24,973 sq. kilometres and caters to the higher education needs of a population of more than 120 lakh.

Information compiled from:Utkal University (UU), Bhubaneswar- Website