In 1950, it was established as Barisha College, an Intermediate College, under the state government's dispersal scheme to reduce the pressure of students from East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh, on colleges in the Kolkata metropolis. It was first set up at Barisha High School and later shifted to its newly constructed premises near the school premises in 1953. In this time, between 1952-53, Jibanananda Das joined as an English professor in this college. He was appointed as a temporary professor of the then Barisha College, sometime in November 1952 and worked till February 1953. In June 1956, after the college came under the sponsorship of the State Government, it was upgraded to a degree College and also brought under the Refugee Education Scheme of the Ministry of Rehabilitation of the Government of India. Afterwards, the college was renamed as "Vivekananda College" after the sacred name of Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author and religious teacher. As the number of students increased rapidly and the lack of accommodation fell sharply, it was again shifted in 1959 to new spacious premises at Thakurpukur having a sprawling campus area of about 6.17 acres of land where the present college buildings were constructed with capital grants retrieved from the Ministry of Rehabilitation. In 1961, 29 August, the women's section of the original college building of Barisha got a status of separate independent college, named as Vivekananda College for Women.[6] On 12 January 1963, Swami Vivekananda's birth centenary ceremony was celebrated at Vivekananda College. The program was inaugurated by the then State Government Minister Saila Kumar Mukherjee. Eminent poet, novelist and editor Achintya Kumar Sengupta was also present there on that occasion. Academics

Vivekananda College is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC). In 2004, Vivekananda College was awarded "B++" status in the first cycle of the college's accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). In 2016, it was re-accredited and awarded "Grade A" status in the second cycle of the college's accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Vivekananda College has a campaign of 'Clean and Green Campus' recognised by NAAC Peer team on 2014 State-wise Analysis of Accreditation Reports. In 2013-14, it was ranked 1st in the ranking of India Today's Nielsen survey as the best science college in Kolkata. All-over India, Vivekananda College was ranked 27th by the India Today Group's survey on best colleges in science stream and 1st among the colleges in West Bengal in 2017.