Endowed with the bounties of the nature, a rich cultural heritage & the past maritime glories, Gopalpur-on-sea, has been able to reserve a special place for itself, not only in the Odisha map but also in the map of the country. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it has also acquired the significance of being recognised as an international tourist destination. While its scenic beauty has attracted many tourists from both in & outside the country, its geographical conditions have also attracted many industrial giants to set up their commercial ventures here. But ironically enough, in spite of all these, the people of this region are backward, both economically & educationally.
Prior to 1982, there was no college in this region for higher education of the children of these backward people. Due to economic hardships, they were unable to send their children to the nearby towns. So, the youth of this region were virtually deprived of their right to get higher education after passing out from the schools. So, realising the gravity of this problem, some sensible elite of this region conceived the idea of establishing a college at Gopalpur. Consequently, with the untiring & selfless efforts of the then local MLA, Late. Sri.Ghanashyam Behera, Sri.M.Venkat Rao, the then Chairman of Gopalpur NAC, Late.Sri.M.Rama Murty, Late.Dr.K.C.Gantayat, the former Professor of Berhampur University Dr.J.K.Baral & a host of other educationally conscious people of this region, the dream of establishing a college at Gopalpur came true when this college was established in 1982.
As there was no building of its own, the college initially functioned in the premises of the P.M.High School, Gopalpur. Strange it may seem but the college started functioning only with six students who had taken admission in Intermediate Arts (I.A). Intermediate Commerce was added to the already existing Arts stream from July 1983. Due to lack of finance, the college could not deposit the requisite fees for getting the Govt. recognition & CHSE affiliation till 1985-86 academic session. However, in 1985 an amount of Rs.1 lakh was collected in form of loans from some local people with the active initiation of Late.Dr.K.C.Gantayat & the same was deposited towards the fees for recognition & affiliation.
Consequently, the college got Govt. recognition & affiliation from the CHSE, Odisha for +2 Arts & +2 Commerce from the session 1986-87. In the mean time, on request by the then sitting MLA & President of the G.B., Gopalpur College, Late.Sri.Ghanshyam Behera, the then Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha Sri.Janaki Ballav Patnaik, transferred the unused Revenue Department Building of Gopalpur to the college for its functioning. The present college building with a little modification & expansion is the same building which we got from the Govt. of Odisha.
By then, there was a pressing demand from the local people for opening of the science stream in the college. Keeping this in view, the science stream at the +2 level was inducted from the academic session 1989-90 & in the same year the stream got Govt. concurrence & affiliation. Further, to give the pass out students of the college an assess to the degree cources, +3 Arts was opened from the session 1990-91 which got Govt. concurrence & affiliation from the Berhampur University in the same year. Two years later from the session 1993-94 +3 Science was also opened. The college got its permanent Govt. concurrence & permanent affiliation from CHSE, Odisha, for +2 Arts & +2 Commerce in the academic session 1990-91. To go a step further, the college opened Honours courses in +3 Arts stream in History, Political Science & IRPM from the session 1997-98. The college was accorded permanent Govt. concurrence for +2 Science & +3 Arts & Science, & permanent affiliation from CHSE, Odisha & the Berhampur University respectively from the session 2002-03. To make it full-fledged, the college also opened +3 Commerce from the session 2009-10 & got permanent recognition for it from the session 2010-11.
The +2 stream of the college came into the Grant-in-aid fold from the session 1994-95. The left-out cases of +2 stream & the +3 staff received Block Grant from the Govt. of Odisha from the year 2009.
It is heartening to state that the college, sailing through all its ups & downs, has reached the present stage where it can claim to be one of the premier college of this region. This is, surely, a great achievement for this college, behind which there are many hands of the management, the young & dynamic staff members & the enthusiastic people of this region.
Now, the college has not only grown in its structure, but also has grown in quality terms. The educational needs of its students are well looked after by the highly qualified & experienced faculty members, most of whom are conferred upon Ph.D. & M.Phil. degrees. Owing to this, the strength of students has gone up from a mere six to nearly two thousand at present.
To keep up its status as an ideal educational institution of this part of Odisha, the college is putting it all out efforts to provide quality education to the underprivileged youth of this region & for their holistic development.