The college began with just five students and three teachers in a small house in Katra Khushal Rai, near Kinari Bazar in Chandni Chowk.

In 1891, it moved into its own buildings at Kashmere Gate.

On 1 October 1941, the college shifted to its present home in the Delhi University enclave.

Designed by Walter George, St Stephen's is an elegant two-storey red brick building around four spacious courts.

The college motto is "Ad Dei Gloriam" the Latin for "To the Glory of God".

The college has an all-India and all-denominational membership; it has students and teachers from all communities and all parts of India, even though it is a 'Minority Institution'.

The college has opened its gates to foreign students who come here to study under its exchange programmes. A number of foreign professors, particularly the English, Scots and Irishmen from Oxford and Cambridge, have taught here.

Undergraduate Courses

B.A. (Hons.) in Economics, English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sanskrit
B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physics, Chemistry
B.A. (Pass)
B.Sc. (Gen.)

Postgraduate Courses

M.A. in Economics, English, History, Mathematics, Operation Research, Philosophy, Sanskrit
M.Sc. in Chemistry, Mathematics, Operation Research, Physics

Student societies and clubs play a vital role in the total life of the College. For each subject there is a Society that sponsors extra-curricular lectures and discussion and, in general, tries to stimulate interest in the subject. There are many other academic and cultural society and clubs covering wide range of activities, such as debating, dramatics, mountaineering, film and music appreciation, social service, photography and electronics.

St. Stephen has a number of magazines. They are:

The Stephanian -The official college magazine.

The Fene'tre - The Journal produced by the Computer Society.

Kooler Talk - It is the saucy and witty satirical rag of College. The self-professed 'Aunt Katy' indulges in the art of creative downsizing of College's many luminaries, events and institutions.

Sanmiti - Gandhi Study Circle's annual magazine, it serves as a forum for the expression of different opinions and ideas about Mahatma Gandhi, his principles, his life, his relevance and all that we need to know for the perpetuation of Gandhian ideals.

PlayOn - The annual publication of the Music Society, it covers issues related to both Indian as well as Western music.

The Yearbook - to all the 'senti' third years. It is memories, emotions, experience -- all rolled into one.

Naturally Yours - The mouthpiece of the Wild Life Society and an additional weapon to fight for environment. The magazine encompasses articles concerning various aspects of our environment, list of wild life sanctuaries, sketches and the like.

HotWired - HotWired is the IT magazine of the College. Published by the Computer Society it has a wide range of articles on Information Technology for the uninitiated as well as the 'nerds'.

OxygenThe journal that portrays the true face of undergraduate Chemistry, the St. Stephen's way.

The MathematicaThe annual journal of the Mathematics Society features articles related to all aspects of Mathematics.

Notable Alumni

Heads of State from College : Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (India), Gen. Zia Ul-Haq (Pakistan) and Selim-e-Selim (Tanzania)

Some Journalists from College : Sri Krishna, Vishnu Dutt, B.G.Verghese, C.S.Pandit, Ajit Bhattachajea, Nandan Kagal, Prem Bhatia, Swaminathan Aiyar, Arun Shourie, Dilip Cherian, Prem Shankar Jha and Suman Dubey.

Some Novelists from College : Gopal Gandhi, Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Nirmal Verma, Shashi Tharoor, Alan Sealy, Anurag Mathur, Mukul Kesavan;and Khushwant Singh.

Some Film-makers, Actors and Theatre personalities from College : Ketan Anand, Kabir Bedi, Siddharth Kak, Shekhar Kapur, Amit Khanna, Rajiv Mehrotra, Joy Michael, Parikshit Sahni, Roshan Seth and Safdar Hashmi (College Street was renamed Safdar Hashmi Marg after his death).Madhur Jaffrey, who was in Miranda House, acted in several Shakespeare Society productions in the 1950s.

Some Politicians from College : Sucheta Kriplani, Vir Bhadra Singh, Vikram Mahajan, Lalit Sen, Inderjit Gupta, K.Natwar Singh, Digvijay Singh, Rao Birendra Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Arun Singh, Salman Khursheed.