SELF STUDY REPORT VIDYASAGAR METROPOLITAN COLLEGE (Erstwhile Vidyasagar Evening College) 39, Sankar Ghosh Lane, Kolkata – 700006. & 8A, ShibNarayan Das Lane, Kolkata – 700006. Telephone: +91-33-22419508; +91-33-64597118 Website: www.vec.ac.in Email: [email protected] Submitted to NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) BANGALORE - 560072 1 PREFACE It gives us immense pleasure to present the Self Study Report (SSR) for Assessment and Accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Vidyasagar Evening College, newly christened as Vidyasagar Metropolitan College, aspires to contribute in a very effective way to the cause of academic excellence and character-building. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar remains our inspiration and his ideals give us the impetus to nurture our College and to make it an academic institution par excellence. The College has travelled a little more than half a century since its birth in the year 1961. In the initial stages of our journey we faced considerable hurdles trying to run a co-educational College (comprising a single faculty) in a common building along with Vidyasagar College and Vidyasagar College for Women. It was observed that compared to the other Colleges, our College enjoyed only 1/6 th of space and time. This situation has been significantly remedied from last year by the construction of a new building. This has been possible due to the concerted and determined effort of the faculty members and supporting staff. Thus we can proudly affirm that the College is now in a position to compete on an equal footing with other peer institutions. This improvement is the fruit of the tireless effort spanning for over two decades by the stake holders. The new building, constructed in the heart of the city with our own accumulated funds, we believe, is a beginning, that will set us on track to fulfill our quality plan of “Gyan, Tyag and Seva”. This is just the beginning and we have to traverse miles before we realize the ideals of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and make our Institute synonymous with high academic ideals and successful character-building curriculum. Our perspective plan is still to be realized in its entirety and there are also other hurdles that need to be overcome. We welcome the peer team to visit our College and are desirous to receive their criticism/feedback as well as suggestions for accelerated growth in near future. Dr. RamSwarup Gangopadhyay Principal 2 CONTENTS Item Page no. A. Executive summary 4 B. Profile of the College 12 C. SWOC Analysis 22 D: Criterion-wise Analytical Report 23 Criterion I: Curricular Aspects 23 Criterion II: Teaching, Learning and Evaluation 40 Criterion III: Research, Consultancy and Extension 63 Criterion IV: Infrastructure and Learning Resources 76 Criterion V: Student Support and Progression 86 Criterion VI: Governance, Leadership and Management 99 Criterion VII: Innovations and Best Practises 118 E. Profile of the Departments 123 1. Bengali 124 2. Botany 129 3. Chemistry 133 4. Commerce 136 5. Economics 141 6. English 146 7. Geography 151 8. Hindi 156 9. History 160 10. Mathematics 164 11. Physics 170 12. Physiology 176 13. Political Science 181 14. Sociology 186 15. Statistics 190 16. Zoology 194 F. Declaration by the Head of the Institution 198 G. Appendices Annexure 1: Admission criteria for 2015 – ’16. 199 Annexure 2: List of publication by the faculty 202 Annexure 3: Master plan of the building 217 Annexure 4: Layout of the College library 218 Annexure 5: Students’ feedback form 219 Annexure 6: Audited income-expenditure statements 222 3 Executive Summary Pandit Iswarchandra Vidyasagar became the President of the Managing Committee of the Calcutta Training School in 1859, and subsequently it paved the way for the Metropolitan Institution, established in 1860. The growth of the Institution led to its affiliation to Calcutta University for Arts only on January 1st, 1872. In 1917 it was renamed Vidyasagar College. Since then the College has witnessed a rapid growth; subsequently its academic curriculum expanded with the formal beginning of the Commerce department in 1922 and the Morning Section for Women in 1931. The Commerce department of the College has the distinction of being the oldest commerce teaching department in India. In 1928 it acquired the affiliation to the B. Com. Course (under the University of Calcutta). In 1951 a separate wing of the College, devoted to Commerce teaching in the evening shift, was established owing to the rapid growth of the department in terms of faculty and student strength. The evening section emerged as an independent entity with a separate Governing Body in 1961 bearing the name Vidyasagar Evening College and since then the College is being run with the mission of disseminating knowledge to a cross section of students, especially to those who are constrained to work during the day to support themselves and their families. In pursuit of this mission the College has gone through an uninterrupted surge of expansion. Vidyasagar Metropolitan College (erstwhile Vidyasagar Evening College) is a co-educational Institution affiliated to the University of Calcutta, and it shares a long and illustrious history with two of its sister Institutions: Vidyasagar College and Vidyasagar College for Women. True to the philanthropic spirit of Vidyasagar, the founder of the College, the teaching and the non-teaching staff are tireless in exploring new avenues of growth and making the functioning of the College more responsive to the needs of the student. But limitation of space, since the main campus is utilized by the three Colleges on a time sharing basis, has so far kept the expansion of its academic activity rather modest. However with the recent construction of separate buildings for Vidyasagar Evening College and Vidyasagar College for Women (by the acquisition of a plot of land adjacent to the main building of the College), the Institution is favorably poised for the fulfillment of quite a few of its plans. Owing to the alteration of the College working hours, the name of the College has been changed from Vidyasagar Evening College to Vidyasagar Metropolitan College from 1 st September 2015.Today in addition to Commerce, the College offers Under Graduate courses in Humanities and Science subjects too, with honours in Bengali, English, Political Science, Geography, Mathematics, Physics and Physiology along with Post Graduate courses in Geography, Dietetics and Community Nutrition Management under the Directorate of Distance Education, Vidyasagar University from the 2014-15 academic sessions. 4 Criterion-I: Curricular Aspects Since its inception, the College has been actively involved in educating the youth and extending the parameters of education beyond mere classroom teaching. The College administration incorporates all the resources at its disposal to build a system of education that is value-based on the one hand and on the other emphasizes on innovation and creativity. The College never loses sight of the fact that an awareness of social issues is crucial to building an ideal learning environment. The Governing Body, IQAC, Academic Committee, Finance Committee, Building Committee and the Teachers’ Council, as well as the non-statutory committees that look into matters related to admission, examination, the library, routine, cultural activities, students’ election, prize distribution, etc. strive to provide every necessary opportunity required for the perfect management of the College. The academic calendar along with a list of holidays is published through the College website. Students are informed about the rules, regulations, codes of conduct, infrastructure, the courses offered, fee structure, prizes and scholarships and other facilities in the form of an orientation programme. Relevant information related to the various activities of the College is also regularly communicated to all the stakeholders through the official website. Workshops, seminars and extension lectures with eminent experts as invited speakers are regularly held to keep the teachers abreast of the recent developments in their respective subject areas and to upgrade the teaching quality. The teachers are encouraged to participate in Refresher and Orientation Courses, seminars and symposia and to involve themselves in research activities. Several teachers are also engaged in supervising Ph. D. thesis of scholars in collaboration with other universities. The College also has an interdisciplinary study circle for and by the faculty members. The teachers are regularly appointed as Examiners, Head Examiners, Moderators, Paper Setters and Scrutineers. Seminars and workshops are organized on issues concerning women, environment, anti-corruption, consumer protection and fair business practices, contemporary theatre, film studies and financial education for young investors. A sense of community culture is achieved through various N.S.S. activities like awareness programmes and health camps conducted by the students in the surrounding slums. They are encouraged to participate in value education classes which serve to inculcate moral and ethical values and develop a sense of social responsibility. Employability training programmes and language proficiency courses aim to equip the students for the job market. The teaching-learning process is regularly evaluated through class tests as well as the formal system of internal examinations, mid-term and selection tests. The performance of the students in College and