In 1927, St. Joseph's College Section offering basically the Intermediate Courses was affiliated to the Calcutta University. By 1949 the college was fully accredited to give courses in B.A. and B.Sc. Later, in 1962 with the establishment of the University of North Bengal the college was affiliated to the university. In 1963 the college moved out of the school premises into the present site the college is now in the 82nd year of its service.

In 1927, there were only ten students in our college! Today the student strength is 1764 of which nearly 50 % are girls. There are 47 permanent teaching staff of whom 17 are Ph.D holders, 4 have M.Phil degrees and 5 are on the way of getting their doctorates. The 10 technical staff and 17 administrative staff wholeheartedly support various departments and students' requirements.

The college offers the following courses: Honours in English, Nepali, Political Science, Economics, History, Botany, Zoology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Accountancy, M.A. in English is partly self-financed. B.Sc Microbiology (Honours), B.Sc Computer Science (Honours and General), Bachelor of Computer Applications (B.C.A.), Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) and B.A. Mass Communication and Journalism (Honours and General) are offered as self-financed courses. Besides these the college offers eleven different Career Oriented Programmes as add on courses.