The Akkineni Nageswara Rao college is the result of the munificence and zeal for higher education of the people of Gudivada taluk and of the neighbouring taluks in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, situated in a rich agricultural area midway between Vijayawada and Machilipatnam, well connected by road, rail and canal with the leading towns and villages in the district. Gudivada has always been a center of great cultural and political activity and its citizens have played a prominent part in the life of the nation generally and in particular of Andhra Pradesh.
In the education sphere too, need for a seat of higher learning was felt, and to meet this need a strong committee of local leaders was formed early in 1950, and an appeal for funds was made in the name of the following as members:
Busts of Late Parvathaneni Venkata Ratnam, Founder President And Late Kaza Venkataramaiah, Founder Secretary of the College
The College Organising Committee sought and obtained permission from Andhra University and the college was formally inaugurated under the name "The Gudivada College" by Prof. V.S.Krishna, the then Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University on 6th July 1950. The college was temporarily located in a fine building on the main road. The Secretary of the Organising Committee Sri Kaza Venkataramaiah became the Correspondent of the college and Sri A.F. Thyagaraju, M.A.(London) was deputed by the Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University, to be the First Principal.
Through out the fifties new courses, combinations and sections were opened and in July 1958 the Three Year Degree courses were started in the college in conformity with the national pattern of collegiate education. In 1958 philanthropic people of Pedaparupudi and Bhushanagulla donated 15 acres of land and Rs.1.00 lakh for construction of permanent buildings to which a sum of Rs.1.00 lakh was added by Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and his admirers. As a result of his generous donation and interest in education the college was named after him from April 1959.
Sri Yerneni Venkateswara Rao, a philanthropist of Mudinepalli donated a sum of Rs.60,000 to construct a spacious auditorium in memory of his father Yerneni Chalamaiah.
The college shifted to its present location in July 1959. Sri A.F.Thyagaraju, our founder Principal, after having laid firm foundation for academic excellence, left the college on July 16, 1966 and Dr. Y.Venkateswara Rao, M.Sc., Ph.D., took over as Principal.
He took up the challenging task of construction of R.C.C. buildings with the active involvement and cooperation of three popular local doctors, A.V. Raghavaiah, T.L. Perumallu and P.L.Narasimha Rao, and handsome donations from the public and matching grants from the University Grants Commission. It is perhaps not out of place to say that even the academic and administration foundation of the college were laid under the leadership of Dr. Y.Venkateswara Rao who as Principal, had rendered yeoman service for the all round development of this college. The successive Principals followed the footsteps of the first two Principals of the college in maintaining the same standards of excellence.