Shyam Lal College (SLC), a co-educational constituent college of the University of Delhi, was established in 1964 by the great visionary and entrepreneur Padmashree (late) Shri Shyam Lal Gupta, the then Chairman of Shyam Lal charitable trust. The foundation stone of the college was laid down by Dr. Zakir Hussain, the then Hon'ble Vice President of India and Chancellor of the University of Delhi. The aim of the college, at the time of inception, was to make quality education accessible to the students, especially girls, from the economically and educationally disadvantaged community of East Delhi. Since its establishment in 1964, SLC has come a long way and has become a centre of academic excellence in University of Delhi.

Spread over a sprawling campus of 29,501 square meters and a built up area of 7,505.40 square meters, SLC offers 11 undergraduate courses in various streams of science, commerce and humanities and one postgraduate course (in Hindi). At present, there are 3940 students enrolled in the College. SLC has a highly dedicated faculty of 160 teachers and 87 non-teaching staff.

In order to keep up with the rising pedagogical demands, the college recently upgraded its infrastructure and other academic facilities. The college is now a Wi-Fi zone with internet access to every student and the staff. Most of the rooms in the main building have been upgraded with LCD projector and other facilities. There are 07 well-equipped undergraduate labs in the college – Physics Lab, Chemistry Lab, Biology Lab, Electronics Lab and four Computer Labs. The computer labs of the college offer the very best in terms of hardware and software to the students and the faculty. Staff room, library, office and canteen have been recently renovated into fine air-conditioned spaces. The entire campus is under CCTV surveillance.

SLC has a rich and well stocked ICT enabled library. It has more than 76000 books and subscribed journals on diverse subjects. The library also has OPAC facility to make the task of locating books easier for the students and the faculty. Our library is automated and RFID technology will be introduced in the library in the near future. We also have a fully air conditioned knowledge resource centre where students and teachers can acquire sufficient knowledge through e-resources by accessing world's best databases, e-journals, e-books and reports in an easy and expeditious manner.

With the primary objective of providing quality education to all, SLC makes special efforts to enable and facilitate learning among the students belonging to the underprivileged sections. The college ensures that special classes – Remedial as well as Spoken English are held on continuous basis for the students who have difficulty in coping with the demands of the curriculum. The Equal Opportunity Cell of the college takes care of these classes with support from the respective faculty of the college who are accessible to the students for any type of help. Fee concession is also given to the needy students. Besides, the college has a SC/ST Cell and a liasion officer to facilitate activities of these sections. The College makes every effort to provide barrier free mobility to all PwD students everywhere in the campus. Ramps and signage on passages have been provided at maximum possible places. Due to unavoidable circumstances, where 100% barrier free mobility cannot be assured, classes for PWD students are conducted on the ground floor to cause minimum inconvenience to them. The college has set up a well-equipped facilitation centre for PWD students. The activities are actively monitored by the Nodal Officer, PwD.

The college, in its effort to maximize the teaching learning outcome, has established five important Centres that offer unique platform and opportunity to the students to have a wholesome learning experience. These centres are: Centre for Holistic Development (CHD), Centre for Industry Interaction and Skill Development (CIISD), Women Development Cell (WDC), Ambedkar Study Circle (ASC) and Gandhi Study Circle (GSC). The important events organized and initiatives taken by these centres have evidently opened the minds of the students to newer ways of thinking. These Centres have taken up cross-cutting issues related to modern lifestyle, gender, caste identity in India, professional challenges, social anomalies etc. SLC is guided by its vision to develop itself as a premier educational institution offering vibrant inclusive environment for the development of excellence in academics, culture, sports and other student empowered activities.