The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, or M.A.O. College, was established in 1877, and Lord Lytton, who was then Viceroy of India, inaugurated it on January 8. The foundation for this college had been laid by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in the form of a school in 1875, but when it developed into a college, Lord Lytton laid its foundation stone in a manner similar to Oxford and Cambridge.