To anyone reading this volume or the Introduction penned by the editors, it will be obvious that this book does not aspire to provide either a teleological or a comprehensive history of the institution now known as the Presidency University, which, physically, has stood for more than two hundred years in the famed academic quarters, the College Street area, of the city of Calcutta, in close proximity to the Sanskrit University, the University of Calcutta, and the university's Medical College. An all-embracing treatment of the history of this institution might have included histories of its various buildings and a more thorough account of its built environment, of its leadership and staff, of friendships and other ties the institution fostered, and of the development of the various academic disciplines taught.

Yet this book accomplishes something quite unique in the history of educational institutions in modern South Asia. True, it draws its unity from the fact that all contributions here focus on the various incarnations of what used to be called the Presidency College, an iconic and high-status institution of higher education in South Asia that made, for more than two hundred years, a “liberal” education available to students in a land colonized by the British. This somewhat mechanical fixing of the volume's focus has one critical advantage: the editors and the contributors do not have to claim any essence for the “spirit” of this institution.