Patna Womens College, Patna

About Patna Womens College, Patna

Patna Women’s College was founded in 1940 by Bishop B.J. Sullivan S.J., Bishop of Patna and Mother M. Josephine A.C. Superior General of the Apostolic Carmel. It was the first institution of higher learning opened to cater to the educational needs of women in Bihar. Bishop Sullivan, the founder, named it Patna Women’s College and presented it as a gift to the Women of Bihar, thereby placing at their disposal an opportunity for higher education. It was Bishop Sullivan’s firm belief that the upliftment of Bihar lay in liberating its womenfolk by providing them with opportunities for higher education, in other words, by empowering them. In the early years the College and the hostel were housed in the Bishop’s own residence at Bankipur, which he vacated for this great work. The College was granted the status of degree college in July 1941. The site for the College building was offered to the then Principal, Mother Theodosia by the Governor of Bihar Lord Rutherford in 1945. The Governor was concerned that the College building should match in beauty the High Court opposite which this site was located. He was not disappointed. Father Gaerhart and Father Loesch saw an ‘architect’s dream’ for the new building of Patna Women’s College, a unique synthesis of Hindu, Islamic, Norman and Gothic styles. The College moved into the new building in July 1948.Thousands of motivated and empowered women have passed through the portals of this college and have entered various fields of life, many making a mark in our country and abroad. The College has come a long way from the time the pioneers envisioned and undertook the difficult task of establishing a Women’s College at a time when only a few truly enlightened and far-sighted persons were prepared to support this infant project in a place where higher education for women was frowned upon, if not rejected outright