Vivekananda Degree College, Bengaluru Urban was established on 16th June 1982 under the management of Janatha Education Society (R).

The campus is located in the heart of the city and is about 5 km from Bangalore City Railway Station and Bus Stand. The college is very near to Sandal Soap Factory Metro Station.

It is one of the premier government aided colleges established to impart & provide in the field of higher education for the deserving candidates and prove to be a milestone in the part of progress.
 
The college is affiliated to Bangalore University, Bengaluru and it is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 2(f) on 18th March 1991 & 12(B) in August 1994 under Act, 1956.
 
It is re-accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with "B++" Grade - (CGPA Score 3.12 on a 4 Point Scale in 3rd Cycle) on 2nd May 2017.

The college was started in June 1982 by the Management of Janatha Education Society with B.A., B.Sc., and B.Com, courses with 150 students, 08 teachers, and 02 administrative staff.

The JES catered the needs of the college by generous contributions made by some of its members. Year by year the college made remarkable progress on all fronts and by the end of 1986-87, the students’ strength increased to 700 with a faculty of 15.

Vivekananda Degree College was adjudged as ‘the 4th Best College in Bangalore’, by the survey conducted by the National English Weekly ‘India Today’ in 2003.

The infrastructure facility of the college during that period was not able to meet the requirements, however, the JES took initiative to develop the infrastructure by constructing a new building and equipping the laboratories.

After the completion of Five years of the non-grant period, the college with all the requisites applied to the Government of Karnataka for Grant-in-Aid facility and the college conferred the status of grant-in-aid college in August 1987, that the fees and all the facilities for the students are fixed by the government.

The student's admission is done as per the Admission Criteria prescribed by the affiliating university.

Computer education has gone global. Keeping in view the importance of computer education the management of the college decided to introduce the computer course at the B.Sc. degree level in 1989 itself.

The college also introduced BBM and BCA courses during 1993-94 and in 1997-98 respectively. Further, the Bangalore University recognized the potentials of this college and permitted the college to commence Post-Graduate courses, therefore, the college introduced M.A. (Economics) in 1994-95, MBA in 2000-01 and M.Com, in 2009-10.

In the recent years, government policy towards grant-in-aid degree colleges is not encouraging, hence, managing a college with both aided courses and unaided courses are difficult and confusing.

Therefore, the management of JES decided to bifurcate the college into two colleges for convenient administration, improvement of academic standards, addressing particular problems and requirements of the similar group of students and staff, etc.

The Vivekananda Degree College retained all the Undergraduate Aided Courses. Vivekananda Institute of Management is newly established by shifting all the PG courses and Unaided Undergraduate courses from its parent college. The bifurcation and shifting of courses are completed in October 2014.

At present, the college offers three years undergraduate courses in Arts, Science, & Commerce with various specializations under Bangalore University, Bengaluru. It also offers Add-On Diploma & Certificate courses.

Vision:

• Education for All

Mission:

• Quality Education at Affordable Cost

Objectives:

• To provide educational facilities to students belonging to underprivileged sections of the society particularly to those students who are deterred to pursue higher education for the want of funds
• To enable the students of economically weaker sections of the society to be exposed to quality/higher education
• To equip the students to face the challenges of modern society, from professional, cultural and moral perspectives
• To create a conducive environment for students to achieve academic excellence to face the global challenges
• To provide value based education
• To inculcate discipline, punctuality, and regularity
• To motivate the students to achieve academic excellence
• To encourage girl students to pursue higher education by maintaining reservation of seats in the admission process
• To lay thrust on social justice and patriotism