Nestled in the laps of the Grand Himalayas, St. Joseph’s College began its journey in 1888, the Ignatian philosophy being its driving force. It, as an institution, refers to both the school and the college; the former is identified as the School Department and the latter the University Department. The University Department grew out of the Special Department attached to the School which catered to the students preparing for the professional courses. It began to come to its own after affiliation with the Calcutta University in 1927 and the first batch of students appearing for Intermediate Examinations in 1929. Now the college boasts of a present strength of more than 1300 students and thousands of alumni all of whom have been indoctrinated with the college motto “lift up your heart” — Sursum Corda.

Situated on the Lebong Cart Road in the outskirts of Darjeeling town, St. Joseph's College is a co-educational Degree institute managed by the Jesuits of Darjeeling Province. The Society of Jesus, a Christian Religious Order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 has been active in the field of education throughout the world since its origin. In India, the Society of Jesus is at present responsible for 148 schools and colleges in which 135000 young people belonging to every social class, community and linguistic groups are educated through the medium of English and nine regional languages. Jesuits believe in developing a complete human being out of a student. In achieving this objective, they emphasize in inculcating four basic qualities among their students, namely, compassion, commitment, conscientiousness and competence. Obviously, the emphasis on these characteristic qualities highlights the role of an institution of higher learning in helping their students to play a greater role in strengthening the civil society and bringing about positive changes that facilitate democratic governance.

The college thus aims at making its own contributions towards a radical transformation of the present day social conditions so that the principles of social justice, equality of opportunity, genuine freedom, respect for religious and moral values enshrined in the Constitution of India may prevail and the possibility of living a fully human existence may be open before all.