"A College with Heritage Status" | "A RUSA Beneficiary Institution"
Principal, Hislop College, Nagpur
The story of Hislop College goes back to the time when a young Scottish missionary, Rev. Stephen Hislop, came to Nagpur in 1845. He started a boys’ school here with an ardent desire to help the society. This vision manifested itself into the establishment of our college in 1883. Hislop College, as it stands today, has grown into a multi faculty institution which sets benchmark for higher education in Central India.
Close on the heels of celebrating the milestone of bicentennary year of our founder last year, we are already gearing up to get ready for autonomy of the college. With a college as young as 138 years, we constantly evolve in order to keep up with the needs of the time. The accolades we have won along the way are a validation of the fact that we are on the right path. Our college was reaccredited by NAAC with an ‘A’ grade with a CGPA of 3.31. Hislop College was adjudged the “Ideal Institution” by RTM Nagpur University. The college has been producing record number of university positions in academics every year.Our excellence, however, is not just confined to the groves of academia as we have students shining both at national and international levels in the field of Sports too. With the college being one of the few colleges in Maharashtra to be conferred the “Heritage status” by the UGC, we as an institution have always striven to be a perfect synthesis of a glorious tradition and a creative modernity.
As much as I am proud of the lineage of this heritage institution, I am also conscious of the immense responsibility that lies on my shoulders. As an educationist, I find great resonance with a story narrated by Osho about Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. It was her habit to throw flower seeds wherever she went. When asked why she did this, she replied, “I may not come back on this route again, but that does not matter. People who pass this path will enjoy the flowers when they blossom.” For me, these flowers are a metaphor for the number of Hislopians who have blossomed into good citizens of the world and are adding great value to the society around them. Love’s labour is never lost when it is built on the right foundation.
As I continue with my calling to uphold the vision of Reverend Stephen Hislop, I seek inspiration in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”