The Government College University is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. GCU is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in Pakistan. Founded as Government College, Lahore, in 1864 under British administration, it became a university in year 2002.

British Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the British East India Company on 29 March 1849, and declared a province of British colonial rule; it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British control. In 1858, the Punjab, along with the rest of British Raj, came under the direct colonial rule of the British Crown. It had a land area of 358,355 square kilometers.