page_title: Utkal University
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Utkal University / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Utkal University Main Gate
context_page_description: Utkal University is the oldest university in Odisha and the 17th-oldest university in India located in Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. The present campus at Vani Vihar located on a sprawling 399.9 acre area in the heart of Bhubaneswar. This is the largest affiliating university in the country with 267 affiliated general colleges, 15 law colleges, 6 medical and pharmacy colleges.
  At present the University has twenty-seven Post-Graduate teaching and research departments located within the campus, viz. Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education, University Law College at Vani Vihar and M.S. Law College at Cuttack. The University is located in the middle of the city. It is 5 km from the airport, 3 km from the railway station. Sainik school is to its north. Mancheswar industrial area is to its east.
  In 2016, Utkal University adopted its theme song from "tunga sikhar chula" poem of Godabarish Mishra, one of its founder members.
context_section_description: After the separation of Odisha from Bihar and the creation of the new province of Odisha in April 1936, there was a strong desire among the leaders of the province for the establishment of a separate university in Odisha. Until 1936, all the colleges were under the jurisdiction of either Patna University or Andhra University. Subsequently, the government of Odisha, with Shri Biswanath Dash as the premier, appointed a committee on 2 March 1938, with Pandit Nilakantha Das as its chairman to examine the possibility of establishing a separate university in Odisha. During the premiership of Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, who played a pioneering role in the establishment of the university, the recommendation of this committee was made available. Pandit Godavarish Mishra, the then minister of education in the government of Odisha introduced the Utkal University Bill which was passed by the Odisha Legislative Assembly on 30 June 1943. On receiving the Governor's assent subsequently on 2 August 1943, the Utkal University Act 1943 came into force, clearing the way for the foundation of the university on 27 November 1943.
  In 1966, that Act was repealed and a new Utkal University Act was passed which came into effect from 1 January 1967. Initially, Utkal University was operating from Ravenshaw College, before it came to its own campus at Bhubaneswar, called Vani Vihar. Ravenshaw College remained affiliated to Patna University even after the separation of Odisha from Bihar in 1936; the affiliation was finally transferred to the newly created Utkal University in 1943. In fact, it was Ravenshaw College that gave birth to the new university, nursed and sustained it. It operated from Ravenshaw College's present Zoology Department building premises. The University has many departments from Anthropology to Zoology for post-graduate teaching. The foundation stone of the present campus was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India on 1 January 1958, and the campus was inaugurated by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second President of India on 2 January 1963.
caption: Utkal University Main Gate
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