The work examines the foundation and development of Liberal Arts Colleges in the Bombay Presidency/Western India during the 19th century. It describes the transplantation of administrative structures, conceptions of a liberal education and a syllabus from the British metropolitan area to colonial Western India. Based on the analysis of historical sources the study tries to understand the broader impact of British higher education on social and political change in Western India. The Liberal Arts Colleges within the University of Bombay are described as new arenas for social interaction producing a number of outspoken and self-confident graduates openly challenging the primacy of colonial rule in the early 20th century.