| St. Xavier's College, Kolkata | |
|---|---|
 Logo Of St. Xavier's College |
|
| Motto | Nihil Ultra |
| Established | 16 January, 1860 |
| Type | Private, Catholic |
| Rector | Rev. George Ponodath, S.J.[1] |
| Principal | Rev. Felix Raj, S.J.[1] |
| Location | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Campus | Urban |
| Affiliations | University of Calcutta |
| Website | www.sxccal.edu |
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who traveled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of West Bengal, India.[2] It is now one of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions in Kolkata.[3]
Contents |
History
The College was founded on 16 January 1860 by the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) under the leadership of Fr Depelchin. The Jesuits are a Christian religious group started by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Since its inception, the Jesuits have specialized in the field of education, among other things, and were even called the "school-masters of Europe" at one time.[4] The college campus is located at 30 Park Street (now Mother Teresa Sarani), Kolkata-700016 where the San Souci theater was previously located, the theater was burnt in an accident and the Jesuits was handed the premises to start the college by the then bishop of Calcutta, Mgr Olliffe. These were very humble beginnings, with only about 40 students spread over three classes. In 1862, two years after its inception, the college was affiliated to the Calcutta University. The present 30 Park St where the College is situated is an amalgamation of numbers 10 and 11 of Park St. The rich Anglo-Indians donated generously to the efforts of the Jesuits. And with a donation from the home Province of Belgium, premises no.11 was bought for Rs 45,000.00 in 1864, by Fr Depelchen. However there was a paucity of funds for expansion work in terms of class rooms and to accommodate the Jesuits fathers. So The Rector appealed to the public of Calcutta in newspapers for generous assistance and was responded with magnanimity by well wishers of the city in 1864. Besides Fr Depelchin and his assistant and Br. Koppes the builder went around personally collecting funds. The present imposing 5 storied building was built in an interval of 6 years, from 1934 to 1940 at a cost of Rs 9 lakhs, which was collected partly from the public of Calcutta, assistance from Belgium, and the huge rental received from the American army that occupied the building during the second war.[5][6]
The first convocation ceremony of the college was held on January 18, 2008. The first batch of Master's programme student in Computer Science was awarded their degrees in the presence of the Mr. M. Hamid Ansari, the Vice-President of India and an alumnus of the College.[7][8]
The college, in its first ever foreign collaboration, has entered into a tie-up with the University of Manitoba, Canada. The MOU was unveiled on 4th Feb, 2008 by the principal of the college, Father PC Mathew and the dean of the faculty of food and agricultural sciences at Manitoba University, Professor Michael Trevan.[9]
Community
Apart from doing service to the community in the educational sphere, it is also involved in the environmental issues, youth welfare, women's welfare and poverty reduction.[10]
A commemorative stamp was issued by the Indian Post on 12th, April 1985 depicting the college campus.[5]
The college has an elected non-political student body called St. Xavier's College Student Union (SXCSU) which co-ordinates all the cultural activities on the campus. The union is elected by representatives from all classes, clubs, and associations, and is led by the General Secretary (currently Raghav Mantri). All cultural events including Xavotsav are organised by the Cultural Secretary (currently Shyam Agarwal)
It has a few associations and clubs that the student can join such as the National Cadet Corps. (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), The All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF), Hindi Literary Society, Bengali Literary Society, Xavierian Theatrical Society, Fine Arts Society ( Secretary Sree Sen, also the Assistant General Secretary),Xavierian Association of Photography, Xavier's Academy of Dance & Music (XADAM). The Debating Society, XDS (currently led by Pratyasha Rath), which also coordinates quizzing, is perhaps the most well known of the clubs, owing to Xavier's' heritage of producing excellent speakers.
Academics
The commerce department conducts its classes in the morning, so that the students are done with classes by 10 am and normally work during the day. The science and arts department conducts their classes during the day. Recently the commerce department has also introduced co-educational B.Com course which is held in the evening. The B.B.A department which was established in 2002 is gaining recognition year by year.
Post-graduate courses introduced at the college are an M.Sc in Computer Science, M.Sc in Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics, M.Com degree and a five-year integrated M.Sc in Biotechnology. The college is also planning to introduce a certificate programme in Real Estate Management and a course in 'Foreign Trade Management'.[7]
People
Alumni
Notable alumni include
| Alumni | Occupation |
|---|---|
| Lakshmi Narayan Mittal[3] | Businessman |
| Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose[3] | Physicist, Biologist, Botanist, Archaeologist, And Science Fiction Writer |
| Ramananda Chatterjee | Journalist |
| Sombhu Mitra | Actor, Director, playwright [11]. |
| Utpal Dutt | Actor, Writer, Theaterpersson, Comedian |
| Sourav Ganguly[3] | Cricketer |
| Dr. Vijay Mallya[3] | Businessman |
| Norman Pritchard | Athlete |
| Hamoodur Rahman | Jurist |
| Benjamin Walker | Author On Religion And Philosophy |
| Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty | Geneticist |
| Jyoti Basu | Former Chief Minister (West Bengal, India) |
| Dr. Arnab Basu | Senior Fellow at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, and professor at the College of William and Mary |
| M. Hamid Ansari | Vice President of India |
| Nawab Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury | a valuable contribution to the establishment of the University of Dhaka (1921).[12] |
See also
References
- ^ a b "Aministration". St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. http://www.sxccal.edu/administration.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
- ^ sxccal.edu Autonomous Notice Retrieved on 04-02-2008
- ^ a b c d e f telegraphindia.com profile Retrieved on 06-02-2008
- ^ bbc.co.uk the jesuits Retrieved on 04-02-2008
- ^ a b indianpost.com commemorative stamp Retrieved on 04-02-2008
- ^ sxccal.edu history Retrieved on 06-02-2008
- ^ a b indiaedunews.net first convocation Retrieved on 04-02-2008
- ^ pib.nic.in Govt. of India, Press Release Retrieved on 06-02-2008
- ^ economictimes.indiatimes.com tie-up with The University of Manitoba Retrieved on 06-02-2008
- ^ timesfoundation.indiatimes.com St. Xavier's College Retrieved on 04-02-2008
- ^ Biography of Sombhu Mitra The 1976 Ramon Magsaysay Award website.
- ^ {{cite web |url=http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0235.htm |title=BANGLAPEDIA: Chowdhury, (Nawab) Nawab Ali |publisher=banglapedia.search.com.bd |accessdate=2009-07-18 |last= |first=
External links
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