Central College Bangalore (1858) is one of the oldest colleges in India. This college was originally affiliated to University of Mysore part of Mysore State. In 1964, Central College was transferred to Bangalore University, a new university formed to meet the needs of the people of Bangalore. Initially, the two premier colleges of the city, the Central College (CC) and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) formed the nucleus of Bangalore University. Rev. J. Garrett was the first principal of the Central High School, afterwards renamed Central College.
The Central College, Bangalore was started in 1886 by the British government to award University Degrees. It was renamed as the Bangalore University from Central College, Bangalore by the University Grants Commission (India) on July 10, 1964 by the government under the then State of Mysore to consolidate institutions of higher education in the city of Bangalore. The Bangalore University, which was created out of University of Mysore in 1964, was operated for many years from the Central College till 1973, when the Jnana Bharathi campus was established. Sir C. V. Raman, Nobel Laureate Physicist, was associated with the University while working at the Indian Institute of Science. He had announced his Nobel winning work at the University premises based in Central College, Bangalore in 1927. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1930. The Central College Campus retained as the City Campus of Bangalore University houses the City offices of the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Registrar (Evaluation), Finance (Examination part), UGC Academic Staff College, Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Distance Education Centre, Directorate of College Development Council, Directorate of Physical Education and a few post graduate departments and support services, with a state of the art Jnana Jyothi Auditorium. Besides, the Central College also has the Central College Cricket Pavilion where the Karnataka State Cricket Association was first established and trained several cricketers of International repute.