Dr. Nitte Shankara Adyanthaya Memorial First Grade College was established in 1988 by the Nitte Education Trust. The college is named after Dr. Nitte Shankara Adyanthaya, a philanthropic medical practitioner who contributed immensely to the upliftment of Nitte village. The Nitte Education Trust was founded in 1979 to realise the dream of Justice K. S. Hegde, the former speaker of Lok Sabha, of empowering the youth, thereby building a just and equitable society. The Trust has established 46 institutions across three campuses at Nitte, Mangalore and Bangalore. The institutions under NET include Nitte (Deemed to be University) as well as colleges for engineering, medicine, dentistry, management, architecture and schools.The Trust has also established 4 multi-specialty hospitals in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada to provide quality healthcare to the people of these areas.
Dr. N.S.A.M. First Grade College has been a constituent college of Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, since June 2022. The University has been accredited with an ‘A+’ grade by the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC). The University Grants Commission (UGC) has also recognised the college under Sections 2(f) and 12B. The college offers choice-based credit system programmes in B.Com. (Hons), B.Com. (Professional) (Hons), B.B.A. (Hons), BCA (Hons) and B.Sc. (Data Analytics) (Hons) as per the National Education Policy.
From the past 34 years the college has been a premier institute nurturing young minds to achieve their goals. The college believes in imparting quality learning, focusing on all aspects of career development and personality enhancement. The college enhances the nature of the teacher-student relationships by provides opportunities for counselling, mentoring, and self-improvement. The college also emphasizes on the regularity of the students in attending classes. Dr. N.S.A.M. First Grade College, the off-campus centre of Nitte DU located at Nitte, has active collaborations with several industries and organizations for research, internships, and placements.