In 1882, St. Joseph’s College (SJC) had its significant beginnings with the French Foreign Mission fathers, who were mandated to start a catholic institution to cater to the catholic community that comprised about 1000 Europeans and 5000 Indians. In 1904, the European and Indian sections separated and until 1949, the institution remained affiliated to the Madras University. As a constituent of Madras University, it was granted the status of a first-grade College in 1926. The landmark year was 1937, for during this year the French Mission Fathers handed over its administration to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 1949, the institution was affiliated to the Mysore University. In 1967, the institution was granted affiliation to Bangalore University. From 2018, the institution is affiliated to Bengaluru City University.  St Joseph’s University is the upgradation of St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous) under RUSA 2.0. In February 2021, St Joseph's University bill was presented in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and was subsequently passed by the Legislative Assembly and Karnataka Legislative Councill. The college received its University status on 2 July 2022 and was inaugurated as India’s first Public-Private-Parnership University by the Honourable President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu on 27 September 2022.

Milestones

 Aims

St. Joseph's University has the following aims:

• To form socially responsible and resourceful citizens rooted in national identity and culture, who will create a just, progressive, secular, inclusive and ecologically sensitive society. This we intend to achieve through affordable and world-class higher education, aimed primarily at the marginalised sections of society, through experiential, research-based learning and academic excellence.
• To generate and disseminate new knowledge that is academically progressive and socially empowering through cutting-edge research.
• To impart holistic education that will make significant contributions to nation-building.

Objectives

Proposed Objectives:

• To provide higher education leading to excellence and innovations in Humanities, Sciences, Commerce, Management, Education, Technical Education, Law, Medical and Allied Health Sciences, Information Technology, Social Work, Mass Media, etc., undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree levels, fully conforming to the concept of a University in accordance with the University Education Report (1948), the Report of the Committee on Renovation, and Rejuvenation of Higher Education in India (2009).
• To provide high-quality teaching and research and to enable advancement of knowledge through various research programmes undertaken in-house by full time faculty/research scholars in diverse disciplines.
• To engage in areas of specialization with potential to make distinctive contributions that will realise the objectives of higher education, while at the same time strengthening our pluri-cultural heritage and promoting fruitful dialogue between tradition and modernity.

To foster intellectual competence by:

• Promoting a culture that nurtures critical and analytical thinking, nurturing skills of reasoning, discussion, teamwork, and coherent communication of ideas and issues through seminars, colloquia, and the incorporation of a research component into every course on offer.
• Designing curricula that reflect the current state of knowledge with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches.
• Creating study programmes wherein a degree may be earned entirely through research or practice.
• Designing integrated degrees (such as B.A.Ed., B.Com. Ed., B.Sc. Ed., etc.,) that combine arts and science disciplines with education and teacher-development programmes with a view to addressing India’s urgent needs for teaching excellence in schools.
• Harnessing alternative and non-conventional systems/methods of learning and evaluation.
• Evolving a meaningful ecology of curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular learning in a campus atmosphere that is liberal, democratic, intellectually challenging and empowering.
• Creating the widest possible range of programmes, giving students options for free choice among disciplines.
•  Designing MOOCs, and partnering in SWAYAM & other online programmes.

• To foster commitment to humane and humanising values through: 

• A process of discussion, reflection, and introspection.
• Action programmes that place students in positions of responsibility that call for a strong commitment to values.

• To activate social concern by:

• Organizing outreach programmes through which students actively serve communities in need.
• Promoting gender sensitivity, ecological sensitivity, and disaster-response. Incorporating the social concern dimension into curricular design.
• Making relevant and positive interventions in the social space, especially aimed at the empowerment of the marginalised in both the urban and rural spheres.
• Promoting sustainability studies and research into alternative models of development as a means of seeking meaningful and innovative solutions to problems stemming from global warming and climate change.