Back in the year 2006, the UGC had once termed our very own Guru Charan College as a College with Potential for Excellence. Some might say that it has finally lived up to its potential with the college being upgraded to the level of a State University of Assam. The journey for the college to reach this level has been filled with ups and downs through its history. Here the ebbs and flows of the college and its storied history has been detailed.
It is a fact of no great surprise that the G.C. College is an institution that has a rich and long heritage. It had its origins as early as 1935 but not in the way one might imagine. The college was established on the 15th of July in the year 1935 and was then housed in an abandoned bungalow in Rangpur, Silchar. The picturesque bungalow where the college was housed, sat on the banks of River Barak and according to reports, the bungalow belonged to a Mr. Promode Chandra Dutta. However, soon after its establishment in 1938, nature ensured that the college had to make its first big change.
What happened was that as a result of the erosion of the Barak river bank, a lot of the land for the college began to be eroded. This prompted the administration to shift the location of the college for the first time. The college was moved from Rangpur to the campus of the Silchar Normal School (which is another historic educational institution). This was, however, always intended to be a temporary move. It was finally moved to its current location after receiving a Government Grant for the 7.1 acre plot of land that it currently sits in.
The frequent and constant changes, that the college underwent were not limited to changes in locale. Its status and accreditation also saw several changes through the years, which is not unlikely for a college with a history as long as the one that G.C. College has. Untill 1949, the college was accredited under the Calcutta University. It was only after the independence, in 1949, after the establishment of the Guwahati University, that G.C. College cam under the purview of the Guwahati University. Then after over 4 decades later, in 1994, G.C. College again changed affiliation to Assam University (Central), after its establishment and this it maintained until very recently.
Finally, the most decisive change in its accreditation status came in 2022, when it was announced that G.C. College was to be elevated to the status of a University. Thus, the college, having outgrown three different Universities, finally ended up joining them as a peer educational institute. While this marks the end of the college in its current form, this also marks the beginning of a new journey for the institution.
