What is today the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, traces its origin to the educational ethos of Swami Vivekananda. True education, according to Swami Vivekananda, must enable a person to manifest all that is best in him by a harmonious development of head, hand, and heart. Such an education would not only combine in it the best elements of Eastern and Western culturebut would at the same time hold aloft the Indian ideals of devotion, wisdom and morality so that it might meet the national temperament at every point. True to the Swamiji’s vision as early as 1898 of a temple of earning combining the elements of the ancient ‘Gurukula’ tradition of India and the scientific temper of the West, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira came into being on 4th July, 1941. Vidyamandira was started as an Intermediate Arts college, started under the auspices of Saradapita, a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1941. It was upgraded to a three-year degree college in July 1960. Indeed, its
becoming ‘a college with potential for excellence’ as also being conferred with ‘autonomy’ for 6 years by UGC in 2010, Vidyamandira’s onward march through the passage of 76 years is a fascinating study of an educational Institute’s bold strides, despite various odds, into the arena of higher education. Also, during the academic session 2006-2007, postgraduate teaching was introduced. In the year 2013, to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the college established ‘Swami Vivekananda Research Centre’ to run PhD programmes. Also in the same year, in October 2013, the college was re-accredited by NAAC with Grade ‘A’. In March 2014, the college was awarded the status ‘College with Potential for Excellence’ (CPE) for the second time by the UGC. During 2015-16 session, the college was awarded DST-FIST by the Central Government. The status of autonomy was renewed in 2016 by the UGC and was extended for another 6 years. Vidyamandira was ranked 9th (resp 11th & joint 7th) by NIRF at the national level (in the college category) in the year 2018 (resp.
2019 & 2020).