St. Bede's College is a premier institution, educating women students for last 100 years. The history of St. Bede's College can be traced from way back to 1842, when many convents of the Religious of the congregation of Jesus and Mary were opened in North India, in order to educate the children of Catholic British soldiers. When Mother St. Clare (Assistant General) came out to India on visitation in 1902, she realized that the best way to help India was to establish a Catholic Training College for Teachers. After the necessary permissions were obtained from the Governor of the Punjab and the Inspector of Education and Mother General gave her consent, the location chosen was Shimla, which was then the summer capital of India. At that time, Shimla came under the Governor of Punjab.

Immediately the construction began, and the building was ready in 1903. Mother St. Clare returned to India with three sisters from England to start the Teachers Training Course. The first Principal was M. St. Gregory.

The College opened 4th March 1904 with 15 students. Upto 1947, this College continued to function as a Teachers Training College.  In 1948, graduate classes of the B.A. and B.Sc. were started.  In 1970 the Himachal Pradesh University was  established  and this College  was affiliated  to  it.   The College  kept expanding  with new  courses  but  the  original  Teachers  Training Course still continues. St. Bede's College has now a sprawling  campus  with  six  buildings  and  more. than  1500  students  with  200  resident  students from all over the country and abroad.

The library, that started with 200 books, has now more than 2000 titles and has been computerized.

The motto of St. Bede's College is 'Non Nobis Solum' that means 'Not for ourselves alone'. Adhering to the motto, St. Bede's College has made significant contribution in the field of women's education in the last one hundred years.

The Department of Posts is proud to issue a commemorative postage stamp on St. Bede's College.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India