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West Bengal, the land of exotic charm is responsible for birth of numerous intellectuals. Education and personalities, who emerged as persons of global repute. Great visionaries like Rabindranath Tagore. Mother Teresa, Satyendra Bose and Amartya Sen, Satyajit Roy, only to name a few, are sons of this land. Hence, from this entire information one can get a vivid picture of the excellent education profile of West Bengal.

In the post independence era also, education scenario of West Bengal is growing rapidly. Besides the proper division of the educational departments, commitment of persons, to education sector of West Bengal, is quite explicit and admirable. Government also offers balanced education opportunities and facilities to both rural and urban sector. Education in West Bengal is provided by both the public sector as well as the private sector. The modern education system was developed by the British missionaries and the Indian social reformists. West Bengal has many reputed institutes of higher education.

Kolkata has played a pioneering role in the development of the modern education system in India. Western models of education came to India through Kolkata. Many of the first schools and colleges were established by the missionaries and reformists. West Bengal schools are run by the state government or by private organisations, including religious institutions. Instruction is mainly in English or Bengali, though Urdu is also used, especially in Central Kolkata.

The state of West Bengal has a literacy rate of 77.1 % as per the census of 2011 which accounts within the top 15 states of India. West Bengal has played a pioneering role in the development of modern education in India. Western Models of education came to India through West Bengal. The University of Calcutta was established as the first fully fledged multi-disciplinary university in south Asia. It was modelled on the lines of the University of London. Today it is amongst the largest multidisciplinary universities of India and offers some of the widest number of academic disciplines for study.

The Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management was set up in 1953 as the country’s first management institute and is also the first in the country to offer an MBA deg ree of a university. The first, Indian Institute of Technology was set up at Kharagpur about 120 km from Calcutta. In 1960 the Regional Engineering College (presently National Institute of Technology) at Durgapur was set up. It is amongst the top NITs in India and also among the oldest.

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, the first among the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management, was set up in 1951 at Joka. It was the first national institute for post-graduate studies and research in management sciences. It was established with the help of the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Ford Foundation.