Principal's Desk

Asutosh College, affiliated to the University of Calcutta, is one of the most well-known landmarks on the educational landscape of Kolkata. Founded in 1916 by one of the pioneers of modern education in India, Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, the college, earlier known as South Suburban College (renamed Asutosh College in 1924, after the demise of its founder), was set up initially to cater to the educational needs of South Calcutta/Kolkata. It soon transcended the limitations of locality and established itself as a premier institute of learning, not only of Kolkata, but also of West Bengal and its neighbouring states.

We are the first college in West Bengal to undergo the process of Assessment and Accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India, in 2002, under the new scheme initiated by the UGC. Asutosh College has currently been graded as NAAC Grade A with CGPA 3.22 in 2016.

With its avowed Tagorean motto – Jnan Jetha Mukta, ‘Where Knowledge is Free’ – our College attempts not just to disseminate knowledge irrespective of differences, but also, in keeping with the Tagorean vision of education, to promote a more holistic approach towards the same as a means of liberating the mind and spirit from the bondage of ignorance, prejudice and unreason.

Asutosh College, which began its journey as an Intermediate-level college in pre-independent India, has emerged today as a centre of Postgraduate studies and research. To facilitate the research needs, we have introduced Asutosh College Research Centre, a dedicate research centre with the aim to stimulate on-campus research environment in 2019.

The college has consistently maintained a sustained programme of development, the pace of which has gained momentum with every passing year. It currently runs Undergraduate courses in twenty-six (26) subjects, including Business Administration, six (6) Postgraduate courses, besides courses under B. Voc. and Community College schemes, Add-on courses, and various other training courses.

As the college has grown in academic and curricular dimensions, it has also of imperative necessity grown in physical and infrastructural dimensions, and in keeping with the demands of an age of information, duly equipped with its digital dimension in the form of a website designed and maintained by its own Computer Science and IT departments. The college itself is spread across two main campuses – the First, or metropolitan campus, comprising the Main Building on 92, S. P. Mukherjee Road, with two ancillary units, the Asutosh College Training Centre (ACTC) and the Humanities Block on the adjacent Basanta Bose Road, and the newly- inaugurated Centenary Building on Kalighat Road; and the Second or suburban campus in Bhasa, South 24Parganas.

Human resources constitute the principal asset of our college, and these include students and staff – both teaching and non-teaching – as well as other stakeholders including the alumni. Nurturing and nourishing these resources is the raison d’etre of the institution with the Principal as the primum mobile of all activities leading a dynamic group of students and staff who believe in maintaining a healthy atmosphere in college conducive to both academic and co-curricular activities.

The highly appreciable performance of the college students in the university examinations is a testimony to the institution’s effective teaching-learning set-up, which incorporates time-tested methods with more modern ICT-enabled teaching methods followed by evaluation. At the same time, a research-friendly atmosphere prevails in the campus with the administration actively encouraging faculty involvement in the research projects and in organizing of seminars, conferences, and workshops for students and staff.

To help students in their career prospects the college has an active Placement Cell which arranges campus interviews and recruitment by the industry and also counsels them regarding career options. As a further aid to their career prospects in a sharply competitive world, the college has introduced three courses under the UGC-sponsored Add-on course programmes in Travel and Tourism, Industrial Chemistry, and Hospital Waste Disposal Management. The college also provides support to students in times of mental crises, which may have been triggered off by a variety of reasons, through a Psychotherapy Unit.

A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Keeping this in view, the college encourages active involvement in sports. The lack of grounds on the main campus has been overcome by having its own ‘tent’ and sports unit in the Kolkata Maidan. It is one of only two colleges in the city with this facility. We are proud to say that the achievements of our students in the sporting arena have been no less encouraging than their academic achievements.

In the cultural field too, our students have made the institution proud by consistently performing well and winning in inter-college events organized by other institutions in the city.

The college has also in the last few years revived both the NSS and NCC units whose members, under the able guidance of the respective teachers-in-charge, are actively engaged in extension activities related to social upliftment and personality development.

To promote environmental awareness the college also has an Eco Club. The campus at Bhasa on the semi-rural outskirts of the city has a variety of indigenous flower and fruit-bearing trees planted in its grounds, a water-body devoted to aquaculture and a newly-planted medicinal herbs garden. The Main Building is partially powered by a solar unit. There are further plans to develop a solar power generation unit, Biogas plant, rain water harvesting unit etc. in the Bhasa campus to make it a “Green Campus”.

To facilitate the multifarious activities of the college, academic and co-curricular, there has also been a continuous infrastructural development – automated central and departmental libraries, INFLIBNET facility, smart ICT-enabled classrooms, computer terminals/laptops with Internet access, scanner-printer facilities for all departments, Wi-Fi enabled campus, 24 hours uninterrupted power supply, CCTV surveillance, gymnasium facilities, Boys’ and Girls’ Hostels. Helping to steer all these, the Principal is aided by the various bodies of the college, i.e., the Governing Body, the Teachers’ Council, Non-teaching Staff Council, the Students’ Union, the Alumni Association, and the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC).

The objective of this century-old institution is to focus on the all-round development of students and mould them into responsible citizens of the future.

The time is now ripe for an independent assessment of our institutional set-up and activities to know whether we are on the right path towards achieving that objective, and to re-orient or rectify our methods wherever needed.