Bethune College is a women's college located in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. It is the oldest women's college in Asia.HistoryThe college was founded as a secular Native Female School in 1849 by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune. The government took it over in 1856, renaming it Bethune School after its founder in 1862–63. In 1879 it was developed into Bethune College, the first women's college in India.