Patna Women's College

The credit for establishing the first purely women's college in Bihar goes to Reverend Bernard J. Sullivan, Bishop of Patna, who felt that the development of Bihar depended on the empowerment of its women through higher education. The Bishop did it   with the help of the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel of Mangalore, the Patna University Senate having given it the provisional recognition up to the Intermediate of Arts. Within 3 Years, the college came into the limelight of the University life in Patna as its students excelled in the Examination of 1943. And the recognition to the degree standard followed.The Bishop had put his house at Bankipur at the disposal of Patna Women's College.  Soon  the number of students outgrew the space there and it was necessary for the college to have its own building, with all the infrastructure needed for a university college.

The college shifted to its new building on the Bailey road, North of the Patna High Court in 1948. For the reasons of extreme interest of the then Governor of Bihar  and Babu Anugrah Narayan Singh, larger plot was arranged for the independent complex for the Patna Women's College. In 1952 Patna Women's College was included in Patna University as a constituent college when the latter turned into Teaching University.

Designed by Father Frank N Loesch, it is  a beautiful structure, in a mixed style taking features from Gothic and Hindu architecture. There is ample application of gothic arches and slender minarets giving a very interesting combination. From a modest beginning in July1940 with twelve students, the Patna Women's College today has nearly three thousand students receiving quality education in conventional and modern professional courses. The college celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in September 1999.