The Acts of Incorporation passed in 1857 provided for the establishment of the universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras on the model of

The Acts of Incorporation of 1857 set up the universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras on the model of the University of London.

Like London at the time, they were largely examining and affiliating bodies rather than teaching universities.

They did not follow the residential collegiate pattern of Cambridge University.

Harvard, an American institution, was not the template for these colonial universities.

Oxford, with its own residential college tradition, was also not the chosen model.

These three universities were the first modern universities established in India.