The University of Calcutta is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal which was established in 1857. It was the first institution in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and secular Western-style university

It is recognized as a "Five-Star University" and a "Centre with Potential for Excellence" by the University Grants Commission and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

It is recognized as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. It was ranked 601-650 in the QS World University Rankings of 2011 and 43 in the QS University Rankings for Asia in 2012. In India, it was ranked 2 by the India Today Top India Universities of 2012 and 2013 and 2014.

James William Colvile, 1857–1859 was first Principal/ Vice Chancellor of University of Calcutta.

Vice Chancellors

William Ritchie, 1859–1862
Claudius James Erskine, 1862–1863
Henry Sumner Maine, 1863–1867
W. S. Seton-Karr, 1867–1869
Edward Clive Bayley, 1869–1875
Arthur Hobhouse, 1875–1877
William Markby, 1877–1878
Alexander Arbuthnot, 1878–1880
Arthur Wilson, 1880–1884
H. J. Reynolds, 1883–1886
C. P. Ilbert, 1886 - 1886
William Wilson Hunter, 1886–1887
William Comer Petheram, 1887–1889
Gooroodass Banerjee, 1890–1892
Jones Quain Pigot, 1893 - 1893
Alfred Woodley Croft, 1893–1896
E. J. Trevelyan, 1897–1898
Francis William Maclean, 1898–1900
Thomas Raleigh, 1900–1904
Alexander Pedler, 1904–1906
Asutosh Mookerjee, 1906–1914
Deva Prosad Sarbadhicary, 1914–1918
Lancelot Sanderson, 1918–1919
Nilratan Sircar, 1919–1921
Asutosh Mookerjee, 1921–1923
Bhupendra Nath Bose, 1923–1924
William Ewart Greaves, 1924–1926
Jadunath Sarkar, 1926–1928
W. S. Urquhart, 1928–1930
Hassan Suhrawardy, 1930–1934
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, 1934–1938
Sir Azizul Huque, 1938–1942
Bidhan Chandra Roy, 1942–1944
Radhabinod Pal, 1944–1946
Pramathanath Banerjee, 1946–1949
Charuchandra Biswas, 1949–1950
Sambhunath Banerjee, 1950–1954
Jnan Chandra Ghosh, 1954–1955
Nirmal Kumar Sidhanta, 1955–1960
Subodh Mitra, 1960–1961
Surajit Chandra Lahiri, 1962 - 1962
Bidhubhushan Malik, 1962–1968
S. N. Sen, 1968–1976
Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, 1976–1979
Ramendra Kumar Podder, 1979–1983
Santosh Bhattacharyya, 1983–1987
Bhaskarananda Ray Chaudhuri, 1987–1991
Rathindra Narayan Basu, 1991–1999
Asis Kumar Banerjee, 1999–2008
Suranjan Das, 2008–2015
Sugata Marjit, 2015–present