Seventy-nine years of higher education in southern Odisha
From Jeypore College to Vikram Dev University
A continuous record from the closing months of the British Raj to the present.
The founding moment
On 1 July 1947 (six weeks before Independence) Maharaja Sri Vikram Deo Verma of the Jeypore Estate established Jeypore College on the urban land that today forms the University's main campus. The Maharaja's commitment to higher education for the tribal districts of Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, and Rayagada was a position ahead of its time. The KBK region (Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput) was the most materially deprived part of Odisha, and yet from the same year as Independence the Maharaja's college began admitting students into a programme that took them, on merit, to graduate degrees of Utkal University.
The first decade: a college of the Jeypore Estate
The institution was set up in the closing months of the Jeypore Estate's administrative existence. The Maharaja was both the patron and the funder; the college's first home and its first faculty were both at his initiative. The students of the inaugural batches sat for examinations of Utkal University at Cuttack, the only university then operating across the eastern coast of the new Indian republic.
1961: renaming and First-Grade status
In 1961, the institution was upgraded to a First-Grade College and was renamed Vikram Deb College in tribute to its founder. Undergraduate Science and Humanities programmes were introduced in 1961 and 1963 respectively. By 1968, Honours teaching had been instituted across the principal disciplines; Honours coursework was fully operational by 1973.
The postgraduate era, from 1979
Postgraduate teaching began with the Department of History in 1979, the oldest PG department on the campus, and the source of much of its institutional memory. PG Economics and the higher-secondary streams were introduced in 1983. Postgraduate Political Science came in 1990. Postgraduate Chemistry was established in 1993–94, the first natural-science PG offering on the campus. By the mid-1990s, the college was the largest centre of higher education in southern Odisha and was a regular source of competitive-examination success stories from the four districts.
Autonomous, then chartered
Vikram Deb College held autonomous status across the period to 2023, with NAAC accreditation at Grade B in its most recent cycle as an autonomous college. The Berhampur University–era affiliation provided the formal degree-awarding link across this period. The Government of Odisha announced the upgrade of Vikram Deb Autonomous College to State University status on 2 February 2023; operations as a university commenced on 1 June 2023. The affiliation authority for the over-seventy-five government and private degree colleges across Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, and Rayagada was transferred to Vikram Dev University from Berhampur University with effect from the same date.
Today
Vikram Dev University is the newest State University operating in India. Its main campus at Jeypore occupies approximately twenty-five acres along National Highway 26. A further seventy-acre campus has been proposed at Rondapalli, near Jeypore. The institution operates under the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2024, and is led by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Hrushikesh Senapaty, appointed by the Hon'ble Chancellor in April 2026.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 1947 | Jeypore College founded by Maharaja Sri Vikram Deo Verma. | Wikipedia |
| 1961 | Renamed Vikram Deb College; upgraded to First-Grade College. | Wikipedia |
| 1961 | Undergraduate Science programmes introduced. | Wikipedia |
| 1963 | Undergraduate Humanities programmes introduced. | Wikipedia |
| 1968 to 1973 | Honours teaching instituted across principal disciplines. | Wikipedia |
| 1979 | Postgraduate teaching commences with the Department of History. | Wikipedia |
| 1983 | Postgraduate Economics established; higher-secondary streams added. | Wikipedia |
| 1990 | Postgraduate Political Science established. | Wikipedia |
| 1993 to 1994 | Postgraduate Chemistry established. | Wikipedia |
| 2 February 2023 | Upgrade to State University announced by the Government of Odisha. | State Government notification |
| 1 June 2023 | Vikram Dev University commences operations; affiliation authority transferred from Berhampur University. | State Government notification |
| 3 January 2025 | Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati assumes office as Governor of Odisha (ex-officio Chancellor). | Government of Odisha |
| April 2026 | Prof. Hrushikesh Senapaty appointed Vice-Chancellor. | Business Standard, OdishaBytes, Pragativadi |
Sources. Institutional history facts on this page are cross-checked against the Wikipedia article on Vikram Dev University (last edited 15 April 2026). State Government notifications are held in the Office of the Registrar's records. Variations between this page and any office-of-record document are resolved in favour of the latter.
Last updated: 26 April 2026 · Reviewed by: Office of the Registrar