About Vidya Prasarak Mandal

Vidya Prasarak Mandal was founded in the year 1935. Its founding fathers led by late Dr. V.N. Bedekar, a medical practitioner were men imbued with idealism and desire to serve the educational needs of the people of Thane.

Beginning with a primary school, Dr. Bedekar and his team, worked with missionary zeal. Today, the educational institutions established by Vidya Prasarak Mandal in Thane serves the needs of more than fifteen thousand students.

In 2008-2009 Vidya Prasarak Mandal opened its doors to international institutions of repute. An educational collaboration was signed with California University of Technology, USA, (CalUniversity) for conducting professional courses namely, Master of Business Administration and Doctoral Programme in Business Administration. An MoU was signed with the University of Skovde Hogskolevagen, Sweden for conducting Graduate and Post Graduate Courses in Medical Biotechnology, Molecular Biology and Physiology. Another milestone has been the establishment of the VPM’s London Academy for Education and Research. This Academy offers courses in Management, Indian Culture and other emerging areas. The Mandal has started a world class Engineering College (VPM’s Maharshi Parshuram College of Engineering) with state-of-the-art facilities at Velneshwar, 55 Km. from Chiplun, Ratnagiri (Mumbai - Goa highway).

About Joshi-Bedekar College

K.G. Joshi College of Arts & N.G. Bedekar College of Commerce was the first institution of higher learning to be established in Thane City in 1969.

Strategically located, the college is at walking distance from Thane Railway Station on the Central Railway line. It is well connected by bus services to every part of the city including Navi Mumbai.

The College received permanent affiliation, in January 1988 with effect from June 1982. The college was reaccredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Banglore and awarded ‘A’ grade in January 2011 (2nd cycle) and subsequently has awarded ‘A’ grade in November 2016 during 3rd cycle.

The College is one of the Community Colleges of the University of Mumbai and has got the Best College Award of University of Mumbai (2011-12). The College is also ISO 9001-2015 Certified.

Former Principals

Sr. No.	Name	From	To
01	Shri. K.G. Bedekar	14/06/1969	31/05/1971
02	Shri M.D. Nadkarni	01/06/1971	15/06/1975
03	Shri. S.D. Mulgaonkar	16/06/1975	19/06/1984
04	Shri P.Y. Oltikar	20/06/1984	30/04/1993
05	Shri S.W. Gokhale	01/06/1993	31/08/2005
06	Dr. Shakuntala A. Singh	01/09/2005	28/02/2017

Former Registrars

Sr. No.	Name	From	To
01	Mrs. Usha Bodas	01/09/1989	31/03/1998
02	Mrs. Manisha Kulkarni	01/04/1998	30/04/2004
03	Mrs. Malan Thete	01/05/2004	30/04/2009
04	Shri. Prakash Shembekar	12/10/2009	30/09/2013