Moulana Azad College is a well-known college, which was established on December 9, 1926, when Islamia College was established by Lord Lytton, the then Governor of Bengal as the result of collective effort of contemporary Muslim leaders like A.K Fazul Haq, Sayed Nawad Ali Choudhury and Sir Abdul Rahim. The object of establishing this college was to promote Islamic learning and general education among the Muslim subjects of British India. After the independence the college was renamed as Central Calcutta College and the college was open to all students irrespective of caste, creed and religion. In the year 1960, the college was renamed as Maulana Azad College in memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was a great national leader and an eminent scholar. From its very first day the college was affiliated to Calcutta University. In the year 1996-97 the College was declared as a co-educational college. At present days there are significant number of girls students in this college. The college has celebrated its Platinum Jubilee with a magnificent celebration in the year 2001. The college is located at 8, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Kolkata-700013.
Maulana Azad College is located at the heart of the city. The ambience is academically rich and culturally vibrant. The uniqueness of this college culture is that it is a mosaic of composite culture, which mainly contains the essence of Indian historical tradition of unity in diversity.
The college offers three streams of study- science, humanities and commerce. The courses offered for B.Sc Honours are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Zoology, Economics, Statistics and Microbiology. The subjects offered in B.A. Honours are Bengali, English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, Sanskrit and Islamic History. B.Com Honours is provided in accountancy. The general course is provided in Bio general, Persian and Arabic. Post graduation course only involves zoology. The admission procedure is strictly based on merit.
There is a 2-way system college library-the central library and the seminar library. The central library has about ninety thousand books, which has particularly rare collection of Persian, urdu and Arabic literature including manuscripts. There are also Internet services in the library.
The college has a play ground at 33, Gorachand lane, near Park circus and there is a clubhouse adjacent to this. Outdoor games like football, cricket and athletics are also played in this ground. Every year during winter the annual sports meet is held in this ground.
There are limited accommodations for the students in the two hostels of the college. The Maulana Azad College has Baker Government Hostel under its direct control. The hostel provides seats to the Muslim students who come far away from Calcutta. Eden Hindu hostel is under the administrative control of Presidency College but offers a limited number of seats to the students of Maulana Azad College. All admission in this hostel are subjected to availability of seats and the seats are also provided strictly on the basis of merit list.
Different departments arrange the seminars regularly throughout the year, which involves participation of both teachers and students. The Excursions and educational tours are also arranged regularly by the concerned departments. There is a computer center in the college, where teachers and students practice regularly. The college provides ample scope for all round development of the students. The college encourages sports, games, debate, quiz, cultural events and seminars. Annual Mushaira or gatherings of poet is an important cultural festival of Maulana Azad College, where many eminent poets come to read out their poems. Every year during the autumn the college magazine is published, where there are writings in Bengali, English and Urdu. The college represents perfect harmony and amity between different religion and culture as in this college both Saraswati puja and Milad-Ul-Nabi are observed with equal zest.
Discipline is strictly maintained in the college campus. There is a committee appointed by the Principal of Maulana Azad College, which look after the academic progress of the students and other related issues pertaining to discipline and the committee are also empowered to take any disciplinary action as and when needed. The Committee meets the guardians, especially of fallible students. Evaluation tests held regularly to measure the progress of the students. Annual Examinations and test examinations are the major exams arranged by the college authority. Periodical tests are held in the year. Apart from this, various departments arrange for additional tests. The results from all of this tests and the regularity of attendance are given equal weightage for promotion and sending up the students for University examination.
The college has NCC (National Cadet Corps) and NSS (National Social Service Scheme), which are guided by the professionally experienced teachers. There is a student union in the college. The college houses a center for Indira Gandhi National Open University with about thirty five hundred enrolled students. There is a coaching centre that prepares the students of minority communities for Public Service Commission Examination. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is situated in this college. There is also Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU) for P.G. teaching in Zoology that opened on 24th May, 2006. A coaching center for educationally backward minority communities has been established at Maulana Azad College under the sponsorship of the University Grant Commission (UGC) with assistance of the Government of West Bengal. At present the center offers facility of coaching for the following examinations- W.B.C.S Executive, Clerkship and other examination held by P.S.C. West Bengal, Joint Entrance Examination for West Bengal Medical and Engineering Colleges, Recruitment Examination held by other bodies like Banking Service Recruitment Board etc.
