Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat was established on 3rd July, 1964 and later it was shifted to its present site on the Hill Top in 1967 situated at a distance of 3 kms from Pasighat town.

The college is affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with "A" Grade.
 
This college became the first and only college in the state affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University to be conferred as “COLLEGE WITH POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLENCE” (CPE) by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi in 2010. The college was also selected to start Community College from the academic year 2013-14.

Initially the college was started with 8 faculty members and 42 students, and only courses in Humanities were taught. Today the College has a teaching strength of 67 faculty members including six guest faculty and the student strength has gone beyond 3700.

It has 13 Departments under Humanities, Science and Commerce; And both Pass courses as well as Honours courses are available to the students in all the streams running under annual system.

The college is spread over two campuses: the Lower Campus is the residential area and the Upper Campus, situated at a distance of about 1 km from the lower campus, houses the administrative block, the teaching departments and the college library.

Till 1978 this college remained the only institution of higher learning in the state. Even today with many more colleges functioning in varied format, Jawaharlal Nehru College is the most sought after institution in the state. We have a dedicated team of faculty and staff drawn from all parts of the country who are masters in their own field of research and teaching.

This college still maintains its leading position in providing the best infrastructural facilities to the students along with facilities for computer education and a very rich library that possesses some of the rare publications on North-East India.

In the noble endeavour to further the cause of Higher Education in the state, this institution has reintroduced Post Graduate programmes in the departments of History and Geography from the session 2011-12, with an intake capacity of 25 and 15 seats respectively.

This year, the department of Hindi is also starting PG programme. The course content and academic calendar of the courses are in accordance with the Rajiv Gandhi University.

College Logo:

The logo of the college represents the selected portion of well known shloka from the Brihaddranyaka Upanishad (i.iii.28)
असतोमा सद्गमय ।
तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमय ।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥
(Asato ma sadgamya tamaso ma jyotirgamaya mrtyormaamritangamaya)
Lead me from all that is untrue and ureal to what is real and true. Lead me from darkness to light; ignorance to knowledge. Lead me from death to immortality.
The five stars inside the elliptical rings symbolize the five original administrative divisions of erstwhile NEFA (Arunachal Pradesh). The fruit laden tree in the centre reflects the efflorsence of knowledge from the cradle of learning amidst the greenery of the campus.

Vision:

• To establish ours as a leading college, providing higher education of excellence with integrity, consistency and due diligence

Mission:

• To prepare the future generation with academic excellence and practical skill needed to face national and global challenges and lead the nation into the world of the future