Vidyasagar College was founded in the year 1872. The college had its origin in the Calcutta Training School that was founded by Thakurdas Chakraborty in 1859. In 1864, the school came to be known as the Metropolitan Institution. In 1872, the University of Calcutta granted affiliation to the Institution for the First Arts (FA) standard. The birth of the first private and truly secular college in the Presidency of Bengal was hailed as a landmark in the academic and cultural ethos of India.

It was the great Indian educationalist and social reformer Pandit Iswarchandra Vidyasagar who was associated with the College  from its very inception in 1872. The college is a living monument of the untiring labours of Vidyasagar who is known to be the founder of the college. After the passing away of the founder in 1891, the name, Metropolitan Institute, was changed to Vidyasagar College in 1917.

Impeccably, the college in its new phase flourished to become a premier center of higher education in both Arts and Science. In course of time, the college was granted permission for study of Post Graduate curriculum  and today it can boast of all facilities for Honours Course in as many as eighteen  subjects in Art and Science in under graduate curriculum and certain post graduation courses.

With well-equipped library and laboratories and highly qualified and committed faculty in various disciplines, Vidyasagar College offers today the proper infrastructure and environment to the students for the fuller development of their potentials.

Located in North Kolkata, near College Street, the college has a residential hostel accommodation for the students in an adjacent building on the Bidhan Sarani for facilitating students from far areas, to reside in the hostel and study in the college.

The college has initiated steps for consolidation, development and expansion. A piece of land has been acquired in Salt Lake City for building and developing an exclusive and spacious second campus. This will enable the college to introduce new courses of study in vocational and job-oriented disciplines and conduct doctoral and post doctoral research activities, if permitted.

The College is governed by a council and the Principal is the secretary of the governing body  and faculty head. Presently, Prof. Tapan Kr. Mishra, a renowned educationalist is the Principal of the College.