Ph.D. in History

Ph.D. in History

The University of Delhi offers Ph.D. in History course to its students.

It is offered by the Department of History and under the Faculty of SOCIAL SCIENCES.

he Department of History was established almost at the same time as the foundation of University of Delhi in 1922. For a long period till the nineteen forties, distinguished teachers from the constituent colleges managed the task of conducting post-graduate classes. Thus, Dr. I.H. Qureshi, Dr. Percival Spear (both from St. Stephens College) and Shri Poplai (from Hindu College who later on became Secretary General of the Indian Council of World Affairs), performed the same roles as Professors and Readers do today. At the time of independence a distinguished scholar of Medieval Indian History, Dr. Paramatma Saran, held a substantive post of University Reader in History, a post which he held till his final retirement in 1961. Dr. Sarans contribution to medieval Indian History especially his compilation of non-Persian Sources of the period, are well known.

The Department got a full Professorship in the early 50s in the person of Professor Bisheshwar Prasad. From 1950 onwards the Department had been served by eminent historians such as Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, Amba Prasad, B.B. Misra, R.S. Sharma and Parthasarthi Gupta. It was during the tenure of Professor R.S. Sharma in the 1970s that major expansion of the Department took place. The creation of most of the positions in the Department owes to Professor Sharmas efforts.

Most of the Faculty Members have been past General and Sectional Presidents of the Indian History congress; visiting Fellows at various Universities abroad; and recipients of prestigious National and International Fellowships.