Andhra Christian College (commonly abbreviated A.C. College) is a higher education institution located in Guntur, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Founded by Christian missionaries in the early twentieth century, it is among the older institutions of higher learning in coastal Andhra and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the arts, sciences and commerce.
| Name | Andhra Christian College |
|---|---|
| Type | College (aided, minority institution) |
| Location | Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Affiliation | Acharya Nagarjuna University |
| Religious affiliation | Protestant Christian (mission origin) |
Andhra Christian College traces its origin to Protestant missionary educational work in the Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras Presidency. The college was established to provide collegiate education to students in the Krishna–Guntur region, complementing the network of mission schools that had been set up across coastal Andhra during the nineteenth century. From its inception, the institution admitted students irrespective of community while retaining its character as a Christian minority institution.
The college is affiliated to Acharya Nagarjuna University, which is headquartered nearby at Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur. Teaching is organised through departments in the humanities, the natural and physical sciences, and commerce, with both undergraduate degree courses and selected postgraduate programmes offered.
The campus is situated in Guntur city. In addition to academic buildings, the college maintains hostels and grounds that have historically been used for sporting and cultural activities associated with the institution.
As one of the older mission-founded colleges in the Telugu region, Andhra Christian College has played a role in the spread of English-medium higher education in coastal Andhra Pradesh. It is part of a wider tradition of Christian colleges in South India that contributed to the development of modern arts and science education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.