It started in Asansol (West Bengal) in 1881, as a house for training in philosophy and theology for expatriate young European missionaries that at that time volunteered for service in India (among whom was the apostle of Chotanagpur, Constant Lievens) and came to the country without having yet done the years of study required for the priesthood.

In 1889, the Seminary, as it was then called, was transferred to hills of the Himalayas, in Kurseong (Darjeeling District), about 1800 metres above sea level, where for 82 years grew into an important centre of research and teaching of Indian religions and Christian theology, open to Indian and foreign Jesuits working in South Asia.

and at doctoral research fostering and participating in ecumenical discourse and interreligious dialogue being involved in movements of the people aiming at their liberation from the clutches of poverty, oppression and marginalization.

Vidyajyoti College has a residential faculty consisting largely of Jesuits coming from all parts of India and from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The Faculty is governed by the Academic Council, which consists of: (a) All Professors, Readers, Lecturers and Tutors who are permanent members of the Staff; (b) The Rector of Vidyajyoti; (c) The Registrar; (d) Associate and Visiting teachers during their stay at the centre; (e) Three representatives of the B.Th.

The students are university graduates or postgraduates belonging to some 70 religious congregations, dioceses, secular institutes and lay associations from every part of India and abroad.

Every student is required to opt for and be committed to some form of fieldwork since the faculty considers guided socio-pastoral involvement as an essential dimension of doing contextual theology.

Apart from these regular ministries, orientation programs and spiritual guidance in various schools and parishes are also conducted in and around Delhi for teachers, students and youth.

SAMAG also takes initiative to organize and collaborate with other NGOs and agencies fighting for the rights of the oppressed and marginalized in the form of dharna and protests.

For their pastoral and social ministries the students visit those in prison (Tihal Jail), in hospitals and homes run by the Missionaries of Charity.

They help also marginal groups into organizing themselves into self-help units: domestic workers from the tribal areas, rickshaw pullers (Asha ki kiran), etc.

The library is particularly rich in the fields of Biblical studies, systematic and pastoral theology, spirituality, Hinduism and Indian culture and Islamics.