The governing body of Presidency College on Tuesday unanimously agreed that the institution should be upgraded to a full-fledged university.

“All the members (of the governing body) observed that the institution should be given the status of a full-fledged university,” said Sanjib Ghosh, the principal of the college.

He said he would send the proposal to the government “in a day or two”, which would take the final decision.

The college will also send a report to strengthen its demand for university status. If upgraded, Presidency will enjoy full autonomy in all academic, administrative and financial matters.

“Our primary aim is to get full freedom to recruit teachers. That will help us maintain our academic excellence, achieved through years of dedicated service of our teachers,” said a senior teacher of the institution.

The state higher education department now supervises the administrative functioning of the college and the state public service commission recruits its teachers. Another reason Presidency is keen on the university tag is to stem the periodic transfer of its teachers.

Under government rules, teachers of state-run colleges, including Presidency, are regularly transferred to other government colleges. “It is difficult to maintain the standards if efficient teachers get transferred too often,” said an official of the college.

Presidency, which is affiliated to Calcutta University (CU), had asked for full autonomy but was granted only partial administrative and academic independence on the basis of the recommendations of a committee formed in 2006. The college enjoys full academic autonomy for postgraduate courses but undergraduate courses are controlled by CU.

The governing body of Presidency College includes a representative of CU. According to sources, the decision to press for university status was welcomed by CU, which was earlier opposed to the idea.