Kolkata University

University of Calcutta

Seal of the University of Calcutta
Motto	Advancement of Learning
Type	Public
Established	24 January 1857; 160 years ago (24 January 1857)
Chancellor	Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal
Vice-Chancellor	Ashutosh Ghosh
Students	22,520
Undergraduates	3,715
Postgraduates	15,750
Location	Kolkata, West Bengal, India 22°34′35″N 88°21′43″E / 22.57639°N 88.36194°E / 22.57639; 88.36194Coordinates: 22°34′35″N 88°21′43″E / 22.57639°N 88.36194°E / 22.57639; 88.36194
Campus	Urban, 136 affiliated colleges
Colors	Sky blue
Nickname	CU
Affiliations	UGC, NAAC, AIU
Website	www.caluniv.ac.in

The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a public state university located in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), West Bengal, India established on 24 January 1857. It was the first institution in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and secular Western-style university. Within India it is recognized as a "Five-Star University" and a "Centre with Potential for Excellence" by the University Grants Commission and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. There are seven Nobel laureates associated with this university including Ronald Ross, Rabindranath Tagore, C. V. Raman and Amartya Sen. The university has the highest number of students who have cleared the doctoral entrance eligibility exam in Natural Science & Arts conducted by Government of India's National Eligibility Test to become eligible to pursue research with a full scholarship awarded by the Government of India.

The Calcutta University Act came into force on 24 January 1857 and a 41-member Senate was formed as the policy making body of the university. The land for the establishment of this university was given by Maharaja Maheshwar Singh Bahadur, who was a Maharaja of Darbhanga. When the university was first established it had a catchment area covering the area from Lahore to Rangoon (now in Myanmar), and Ceylon, the largest of any Indian university.