The Higher Education Department is a successor to the erstwhile Department of Education. The Department of Mass Education Extension was carved out of the Department of Education to deal with, among other things, the subject of adult education, in terms of Notification No. 5106 –A.R. dated the 21st April 1988. The Department of Technical Education & Training was similarly created in terms of Notification No. 16129 –A.R. dated the 29th June 1991 The Polytechnic institutions which had so long functioned under the Higher Education wing of the erstwhile Education. Department were taken over by the newly created department. Finally, the Education Department was abolished and in its place were created two departments, namely, the School Education Department and the Higher Education Department in terms of Notification No. 670 –Home (Cons) dated, the 8th Nov, 1995. As per Rules of Business of the Government as amended in terms of the above-mentioned Notifications as well as Notification No. 253 –Home (Cons) dated, the 11th Sept, 2000, the main functions of this Department now, are as follows:-
“Promotion and regulation of higher education and cultural development including technical or specialized education in the State Universities and colleges including colleges providing instruction for courses of study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Education, and engineering and technological colleges and other institutions of higher learning, excluding the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences and the West Bengal University of Juridical Sciences.”