William Carey University is located in Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Established by the Gazette of Meghalaya No. 76, the William Carey Act 2005, authorizing ACTS to establish the William Carey University It is named after the Baptist missionary William Carey.

William Carey, whose name this university commemorates, was an extra-ordinary English missionary who contributed much than what is traditionally known as “mission” work in India. Known today as the “father of modern missions” he was a pioneer of social and educational initiatives that continue even stronger today.

Carey was educationally unqualified having left school at twelve to become a cobbler’s apprentice. But he founded the Serampore College in West Bengal, India which was the first degree-granting institution in Asia. The King of Denmark granted a royal charter in 1827 to provide education in the arts and sciences. The college also helped to train Indian ministers for the church. So respected a scholar he was that Fort William College, Calcutta invited him to be a professor. Carey initiated around 100 rural schools mainly encouraging the education of girls.

William Carey was a linguist. He become a lover of the Bengali language and also recognized the importance of Sanskrit, especially for the translation of the Bible into various Indian languages. Carey studied Sanskrit and even translated parts of the Ramayana into English. He is credited for reviving the Sanskrit and Bengali language. Rabindranath Tagore, wrote: “I must acknowledge that whatever has been done towards the revival of the Bengali language and its improvement must be attributed to Dr. Carey and his colleagues. Carey was the pioneer of the revived interest in the vernaculars.”

Carey started a printing press from where came translations of the Bible in Bengali, Sanskrit, and other major languages and dialects. In his lifetime, the press printed and distributed the Bible in whole or part in 44 languages and dialects. William Carey also had a hand in starting the Statesman, India’s first newspaper. This began with as a weekly publication “The Friend of India” continuing today as a respected national daily newspaper.

Little is written about William Carey and his contribution to Indian agriculture and horticulture. He was the founder of the Agriculture and Horticultural Society of India. Self taught through experience, he wrote about the improvement of land by encouraging a “superior mode of cultivation”, rotations of crops and the use of waste lands for cultivation. He also introduced the concept of the saving bank to assist poor farmers improve their produce.

William Carey pioneered action against the questionable social practices such as infanticide and sati-the rite of a woman burning herself on her husband’s funeral fire. Along with his colleagues, John Marshman and Ward, he joined with the Hindu reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy to bring about abortion. Carey researched Hindu scriptures and showed that sati was a rite simply encouraged as a virtue and not a duty.

William Carey leaves a rich legacy behind – an educationist, a linguist, an environmentalist, a social reformer and the list goes on. His motto was expect great things from God, Attempt great things for God.

VISION

William Carey University is a unique institution committed primarily to higher education where the academy integrates with the socio-economic and environmental realities in order to bring about the total transformation of people and their contexts. The university will bring together social, economic, environmental, cultural and academic activities in order to facilitate holistic growth for the community as well as to become a strategic institution.

An innovative range of study programs and research will be conducted within the unique context of the hill regions of NE India, where indigenous culture and the natural environment will be sustained alongside socio-economic development. Food, water, and energy will be the focus and partners from all over the world will participate with WCU.

MISSION

In keeping with the vision, WCU will offer academic courses and programs that will equip students to get involved in commercial as well as service-oriented opportunities to bring transformation in the region and to the peoples of NE India. Thus, whether the teaching of Environment or Management, Education or IT programs; students will be trained and will study in an appropriate context in preparation for their professional activities. Knowledge, skills and the dispositions for service to the community will be cultivated. WCU programs will be both formal and non-formal as the university goes to the people rather than people coming into an academic sanctuary.

William Carey University will cultivate strategic alliances, both national and international, for the economic advantage of the people of NE India. WCU will facilitate appropriate research leading to industrial and commercial collaborations to create job opportunities at all levels. There is a wide scope for profitable ventures, as human, as well as natural resources; are plentifully available. Capital, as well as other investments will be encouraged. Commercial operations will be encouraged to simultaneously develop a commitment to the community.