St. Stephen's is a co-educational institution of higher learning located in University Enclave on the University of Delhi's 'North' campus. In spite of its location in North India, the college has always striven to admit students and select teachers from all communities and from all parts of India. It also admits a small number of students from overseas. The college was founded on 1 February, 1881 by the Cambridge Brotherhood, an Anglican mission from Westcott House, Cambridge, England. It was initially affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1882, it was affiliated to University of the Punjab, Lahore. It later became one of three original constituent colleges of the University of Delhi when that institution was founded in 1922. The Rev. Samuel Scott Allnutt was mainly responsible for founding the college and served as its first principal. Allnutt is buried by the chapel in the college's present campus. The anniversary of his death is observed as Founder's Day on December 7 every year[7]. The college is currently situated on a large and well-known campus in North Delhi, designed by the distinguished Welsh architect Walter Sykes George, and completed in 1941. The college had previously functioned from a campus in Delhi's Kashmiri Gate, housed in distinctive Indo-Saracenic buildings. These now house some government offices. In fact, some college playing fields are still located between Kashmiri Gate & Mori Gate. In addition to its present academic buildings and halls of residence, the college is famous for its library, which also houses a collection of rare Sanskrit and Persian manuscripts. Facilities for a number of sports are provided for on the college campus. The Francis Monk gymnasium, the Ladies Common Room, and the Junior Common Room provide facilities for indoor sports and recreation. A chapel is open to all members for worship and meditation. The college has six Residences - blocks which allow around 500 men and women to reside on the premises. Student clubs and societies have always played an important role in the life of the college, and are seen as vital to student development. Each academic subject has a society which sponsors lectures and discussions. The popular extracurricular societies and clubs engage in activities concerned with debating, dramatics, trekking, film, social service, photography, quizzing and astronomy. In continuance of a long tradition, societies - such as the Planning Forum, History Society, Gandhi Study Circle, Informal Discussion Group - regularly invite distinguished visitors to address and join issue with students on various topical issues

Placement

One student each from Shri Ram College of Commerce and from St Stephen’s got the highest ever offers in Delhi University’s history with Rs 32 lakh domestic packages, while an Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) student bagged an all-time high international offer of USD 1,50,000. IIFT has seen a 50% rise in average salaries and 10% of all placements have been abroad. Good news has also been coming in from campuses such as Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, Delhi Technological University (DTU) and Jamia Millia Islamia. At SRCC, economics student Adit Mathur bagged the Rs 32 lakh package from Deutsche Bank. Moreover, the placement season usually ends in December but it is still continuing this year, with 27 companies - about 10 more than last year - having visited the college since last August. Aparna Keswani, a member of the college placement cell, said: ‘‘With the economy recovering, a lot more companies were willing to recruit this time. We even got calls from companies saying they wanted to come in March but we had to say no.’’ She added, ‘‘about 150 of a total of 450 students have been recruited, the average pay package stands at Rs 4.75 lakh. A lot of the other students have opted either for higher studies or for articleship.’’