Heritage status eludes Bengaluru's oldest college

BENGALURU: The historic St Joseph's College, the city's oldest degree college, has lost the race to bag the coveted "heritage" tag.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), under the Special Heritage Status scheme, offers colleges a Rs 5-crore grant to conserve, maintain and improve infrastructure.

The 133-year-old institution was the only city college to apply for the scheme open only to institutions that are 100 years old. In its proposal sent to the UGC, the college listed its plans: history and science museums, a central instrumentation centre, a new library block with e-learning facilities and general modernisation of classrooms. "The proposal does not qualify for financial assistance under the present scheme," is all that the UGC had to say on its part.

"Ours is one of the 13 centres of excellence in India. The UGC should have considered this. The conferment of the heritage status would have helped us, apart from the funds we were eligible to bag. We are yet to analyse how and why the UGC rejected our proposal," a professor involved in process to apply for the scheme told ET requesting anonymity .

"Our legacy goes as far back as World War I in which many from St Joseph's fought and died. We definitely deserved it," said Cheriyan Alexander, head of the English department.

Started in 1882 by the Foreign Missions Society of Paris, St Joseph's College counts many top professionals in the country among its alumni. The college moved into its Lalbagh Road campus after its building that stood on Residency Road was demolished in 2005. As many as 19 institutions all over India were selected for the heritage tag, among which was the University College in Hampanakatta, Mangaluru, the only institution from Karnataka.