The University of Calcutta is one of India’s oldest modern universities and a foundational institution in the history of higher education in South Asia. It was founded on 24 January 1857 after the East India Company’s Court of Directors recommended the creation of universities at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The new institution initially followed the examining-university model of the University of London, affiliating colleges and conducting examinations across a wide territory. Over time, it transformed into a major teaching and research university with postgraduate departments, laboratories, libraries, professional faculties, and multiple campuses in Kolkata. The university played a central role in the development of modern scholarship in Bengal and became associated with generations of influential scientists, writers, historians, economists, jurists, and public figures. Its academic profile spans humanities, languages, social sciences, pure and applied sciences, commerce, management, law, education, technology, and interdisciplinary research. Historic institutions, specialized centres, and extensive library collections support advanced scholarship, while its urban campuses connect the university with Kolkata’s broader scientific, cultural, legal, and intellectual life. Calcutta University’s significance extends well beyond its age. During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it helped shape standards for degree education, examinations, academic appointments, and research across eastern India. It also became an important site for the growth of Indian-led scholarship as university teaching and research expanded beyond the earlier colonial examining model. The institution has repeatedly adapted its structure as new disciplines and professional fields developed. Today it combines the responsibilities of a large public university with the heritage of an institution that participated in the formation of modern Indian higher education. Its 1857 foundation, long academic lineage, and continuing research role make the University of Calcutta a distinctive bridge between colonial-era university history and contemporary public higher education. Its archives also preserve important records of Indian intellectual and university history.