St. John's College, Agra

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St. John's College
St. johns college, agra, uttar pradesh, India.JPG
Latin: Sancti Ioannis collegium[ citation needed ]
MottoThe Truth Shall Make You Free [1]
Established1850;174 years ago (1850) [1]
FounderRev. Thomas Valpy French
Academic affiliation
Agra University
Principal Shailendra Pratap Singh
Address
Mahatma Gandhi Road
, , ,
India
CampusUrban
Colours
Website stjohnscollegeagra.in
Logosjc.jpg
St johns college agra day.jpg
Night view Pc abhay.jpg
Night view

St. John's College is a constituent college of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, located in Agra. It is a Christian college under the Church of North India. It was established by the Church Mission Society to Agra. The college admits both undergraduates and postgraduates and awards degrees in liberal arts, commerce, sciences, business administration and education under the purview of Agra University. [2]

Contents

The college was built in honor of John the Apostle, one of the Twelve apostles of Jesus.

History

St. John's College, Agra, was established in 1850 [1] by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of England, along with Agra C.M.S. Association, and its first principal was Rev. Thomas Valpy French (1825–1891), a fellow of University College, Oxford. [3] [4] In 1869–70, it had 297 students, out of which 199 were Hindus, 76 Muslims, and 22 Christians. [5]

From 1862 to 1888, the college was affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1912 the Church Missionary Society opened a sister school for girls in Agra and Ethel McNeile was the founding head of school. She had persuaded the CMS and the Zenana Bible and Medical Missionary Society that schools for girls in India should aspire to rival British public schools. [6]

In 1927, St John's school that by then affiliated to the University of Allahabad moved to affiliate with Agra University (now known as Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University) as it came into existence, the college became affiliated to it, and its principal Dr. A.W. Davies became the first Vice-Chancellor of the newly formed University. Since 1893, the college has offered post-graduate courses.

The college celebrated its centenary in 1952; on this occasion a new wing of the college was built. The foundation stone of the Centenary Wing was laid by Bharat Ratna Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, former president of India in 1957 and was inaugurated by the prime minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, on 9 October 1959. [7]

Presently the principal of the college is Dr. Shailendra Pratap Singh.

Present composition

St. John's College is a co-educational institution of higher learning with a men-women ratio of 45:55. It is regarded as a good college of Northern India. The college offers courses under five faculties – three in regular and two in self-finance mode. The college has sixteen post-graduate departments with facilities for research and three under-graduate departments. The college also runs five self-financed recognized courses: the B.Com. (vocational), B.B.A., B.Ed., M.A. (Urdu), postgraduate diploma in clinical psychology and two partially self-financed degree programmes in B.Sc. with industrial chemistry, and B.Sc. with computer science.

The college has always striven to admit students and select teachers from all communities and from all parts of India. It also admits a small number of students from overseas. The college offers scholarships and awards to meritorious students. These are endowed over a period of time.

Campus

The college is situated on a large and well-known campus in Agra; on the occasion of its centenary, a new wing of the college was built. The foundation stone of the Centenary Wing was laid by Bharat Ratna Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, former president of India, in 1957 and was inaugurated by the prime minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, on 9 October 1959. Facilities for a number of sports are provided for on college campus. The annexe, the ladies common room, provide facilities for indoor sport and recreation. The chapel of invitation is open to all members for worship and meditation.

Residence halls

The college's halls of residence are spread across two blocks, named for former principals, as given below:

Library

The St. John's college has a central library with over 90,000 books, a reading room open access and a reference section for post-graduate and research student, most of the departments have departmental library for post-graduate students.

The college library also provides INFLIBNET facility to the faculty members, research scholars and post graduate students to consult more than 80,000 e-journals and e-books.

Admission

The college has its own selection process. the college has an online application process( https://sjcportal.in ) where prospective applicants are expected to fill in their interests and academic achievements. the colleges releases a list for students selected to an interview.

Academics

St. John's offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in:

St. John's offers one Ph.D. in science and commerce. Students can take vocational courses in foreign trade, advertising and sales promotion, insurance, computer science, demography, yoga psychology and mental health and communicative English. The college runs a study centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Student societies

Students club and societies engage in activities concerned with debating, dramatics, photography, social services, quizzing, 'dumcherade', 'antakshri' etc. many societies i.e.; BOTSO, CHEMSO, regularly invite distinguished visitors to address and join issue with students on various topical issues.

The various societies in colleges are:-

Principals

Thomas Valpy French Thomas Valpy French.jpg
Thomas Valpy French
Worcester Cathedral, grave of Rev. Dr. Arthur Whitcliffe Davies in the Cathedral Cloisters Worcester Cathedral UK 16052015 Davies Agra.jpg
Worcester Cathedral, grave of Rev. Dr. Arthur Whitcliffe Davies in the Cathedral Cloisters

Notable alumni

St. John's College Agra has produced many distinguished personalities, including one President of India, two Governor of states, one nominee for the Nobel prize, Indian ambassador to United States of America and many IAS, IFS and IRS officers.

Notable presidents

Further reading

Related Research Articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 "St. John's College, Agra". Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  2. The Christian college in India: the report of the Commission on higher education in India, by Commission on Christian higher education in India. Published by Oxford university press, 1931. Page 322.
  3. Thomas Valpy French Britannica.com.
  4. History
  5. REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES, FOR 1869-70, by M Kempson. Published 1870. pp. Page 67.
  6. "McNeile, Ethel Rhoda (1875–1922), missionary and headmistress" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48700. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 14 October 2020.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. Message of the President- Dr. Rajendra Prasad Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Correspondence and Select Documents, by Rajendra Prasad, Valmiki Choudhary. Published by Allied Publishers, 1984. ISBN   81-7023-002-0. Page 251."It is a pleasure to me to learn that.. St. John's College, Agra complete a century of service.. in 1952..."
  8. "Who is Rakesh Asthana? All you need to know about new Delhi Police Commissioner".
  9. "St. Johns College Agra Intl. Alumni Association: Notable Alumni". St. Johns College Agra Intl. Alumni Association. Retrieved 8 July 2024.