Vidyasagar University in Encyclopedia

Vidyasagar University () is a state-government administered, affiliating and research university in Paschim Medinipur district of southern West Bengal, India. It offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

History

Vice chancellors
Bhupesh Chandra Mukherjee, 1981 1986 Birendra Nath Goswami Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri Manas Kumar Chattopadhyay Manoranjan Maiti Satya Narayan Ghosh Amiya Kumar Dev Ananda Deb Mukhopadhyay Swapan Kumar Pramanick Nanda Dulal Paria Ranjan Chakrabarti

The university was established on 29 September 1981 by the Vidyasagar University Act 1981 (West Bengal Act XVIII of 1981) of the state of West Bengal to commemorate Pandit Iswar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, also known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the great educationist and social worker of 19th century Bengal. The University Grants Commission accorded recognition to the university under Section 12 B on March 1, 1990.^[1]^[2]

Mission statement

The university was established with a mission to provide an answer to the education needs of the region. It provides ethnic, sociocultural, geographical along with mainstream education. The university logo with the motto Education, Knowledge, Progress embodies the mission.

Total area

The total area of university campuses in the semi-rural areas is . It may be distributed as:

Organisation

The university is an affiliating institution and has its jurisdiction over Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur districts or any district which may be created in future out of any parts thereof. Thirty colleges of the University of Calcutta in the erstwhile district of Midnapore were initially deemed to be affiliated to Vidyasagar University.

Governance

The university's formal head is the Chancellor (the governor of West Bengal), though as with most state universities of West Bengal, the Chancellor is a titular figure, rather than someone involved with the day-to-day running of the university. The Vice-Chancellor, currently Ranjan Chakrabarty, is the "de facto" head of the University who mainly controls the day to day running of the university. Court and Executive council is the policy forming body of the university. Also faculty council, members of student union, finance committee takes a important role in decision making body.

Colleges

Vidyasagar University has 54 affiliated colleges and 12 more colleges with affiliated courses. Colleges are independent from the university but they follows the course curriculam of the university. Colleges are headed by the principal and teachers of the colleges are appointed via West Bengal college service commission. Colleges have responsibility for admitting undergraduates and organising their classes.

Teaching and Degrees

Undergraduate teaching is centred on the affiliated colleges of the university. Undergraduates enroll for a three-year program. Students are assigned for a honours course when they enter the university, and cannot change it later. Science and business disciplines are in high demand, as these fields are perceived to have better job opportunities. University is only responsible for conducting the bachelors degree examination and conferring bachelor's degrees to students. University himself offers postgraduate degrees (M.Sc, M.A, M.Com, M.Phil) to the students and it also offers Ph.D degrees to the students of their own department as well as specialized institutions.

Academic Year

The normal Academic Year of the University commences on the first day of July and ends on the last day of June of the following calendar year.

Academics

Faculties

Vidyasagar University has 29 departments organized into two faculties: Science, Arts & Commerce^[4]

Faculty of Science

This faculty has 15 departments. The faculty consists of the departments of Physiology and Community Health, Dietetics & Community Nutrition Management, Physics and Techno-physics, Botany and Forestry, Zoology and Fishery Science,Microbiology, Economics with Rural Development, Anthropology, Biomedical Laboratory Science and Technology, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Applied Mathematics with Oceanology and Computer Programming, Aquaculture Management & Technology, Computer Science, Electronics, Remote Sensing & GIS

Faculty of Arts and Commerce

This faculty has 14 departments. The faculty consists of the departments of Bengali, English, Geography with Environment Management, History, Political Science with Rural Administration, Philosophy and Life-world, Library and Information Science, Sanskrit, Sociology, Mass Communication and Videography,Commerce with Farm Management, Master of Business Administration, Santali, Hindi

Centres

Admission

Admission in undergraduate and postgraduate course is mainly based on the result of higher secondary (10+2) and graduation (10+2+3) level results, respectively. Every colleges also set up their own criteria for admission in undergraduate course but all are mainly based on higher secondary results.^[5]^[6]

For research level programs, the aspirants have to sit for a qualifying test followed by an interview. It is mandatory that they secure at least 55% marks in their post graduate level examination. If the aspirants qualify the all India examination like NET, GATE, SET then their admission in Ph.D is only based on interview.

Distance Education

Vidyasagar university has a Directorate of Distance Education (DDE,VU) for conducting post graduate studies in distance mode. This is for people who cannot undergo post graduate studies in regular (full-time) mode. The Directorate of Distance Education is located on the main campus of the Vidyasagar University. It was established in 1994 and started offering correspondence courses in postgraduate subjects from the session 1994-1995. Candidates pursuing Distance Learning courses are provided with study materials in the form of modules on topics prescribed in the syllabus. The Directorate of Distance Education also organises Personal Contact Programme (PCP) for interaction with leading academic experts in the subjects who give counselling and advice rather than class room lectures. PCPs are held ordinarily during Summer Recess, Puja Recess and Winter Recess and on holidays. Courses of distance education in the university is approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Distance Education Council.^[7]^[8]

Library

Vidyasagar University has a central library. It has a collection of 75000 volumes which includes Text Books, Reference Books, Journals etc. The book database of the library is accessible through OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue). It is a close access library, remains open from 8:30a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturday, from 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.. The library is a beneficial member of UGC -infonet consortium and also an institutional member of IIT. Xerox facility is also available in the library on payment of a nominal charge.^[9]

Computer Centre

Computer centre of Vidyasagar University takes a important role for spreading the knowledge of computer education in rural areas of West Bengal. They offers certificate and diploma courses on some computer based subjects like Office Automation and Financial Accounting, Office Automation and Internet Technologies. They also offered few Post graduate diploma courses in collaboration with CMC. It also maintains the Campus Wide LAN (Optical Fiber based GBIC) with 400 nodes throughout the campus and Providing the Internet Services.^[10]

Sports and Games

Games and Sports of the university are the integral part of academic achievements. Sports events like Athletics, Football, Volleyball, Kho-Kho, Swimming, Kabadi, Cricket competition are now being organised regularly as per university's Sports Calendar. The University has shown remarkable performance in All India Inter-University Tournaments and all Bengal Inter-University Tournaments even with the limited infrastructural facilities.^[11]