BIDHANNAGAR COLLEGE, GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL, WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1984 IN SALT LAKE (BF-142), WITH THE AIM OF PROVIDING QUALITY EDUCATION TO STUDENTS OF SALT LAKE AND ADJOINING AREAS.
Bidhannagar College began its glorious journey on June 25, 1984. It is a government college directly under the aegis of the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal. It was originally housed in a small building at premises no. BF-142, Salt Lake City. Since its inception the College has been oriented towards being a model of academic excellence. Though Bidhannagar College was initially affiliated to the University of Calcutta, since 2008, it has been affiliated to the newly established West Bengal State University (Barasat, North 24 Parganas).
To make good the space crunch of the first location and to ensure unhindered growth and development of the College, a new building was built for the college on 7.5 acres of prime land at EB-2, Sector I, Salt Lake. The three-storeyed structure stands amidst a wide expanse of greenery. A Spacious playground is there in the college premises too.
Bidhannagar College was accredited B++ by the NAAC in 2006.
Lately a new six-storeyed building is under construction. It is to house the Humanities and the Social Science departments, the library, the administrative section and an auditorium. As of now it accommodates the department of Geography.
A peaceful atmosphere and a rich cultural ambience ensures the various curricular and co-curricular activities. With the expansion of greater Kolkata the college will continue to play a pivotal role as the prime educational institute for thousands of students pursuing higher studies in the near future. The college is continually developing its facilities and curricular and co-curricular programmes for its future students.
During 2009-2010 Bidhannagar College celebrated its Silver Jubilee with varieties of programmes including academic seminars and cultural activities. Noted educationists like Amlan Dutta and Samar Bagchi were guest speakers who spoke on higher education and environmental awareness. A Silver Jubilee souvenir was published by the college to mark the occasion.
Bidhannagar College has been offering three-year Honours Courses in ten Science subjects and six Humanities. M.Sc. courses in Zoology and Microbiology started in 2004. In 2013-2014 two new courses were added – 3 year B.Sc. Geography (Honours) course and 2 year M.Sc. course in Chemistry. A number of teachers have been actively engaged in research and in promoting or supervisining research activities.
In 2012, Bidhannagar College won financial support from the Department of Science and Technology on the recommendations of the FIST Advisory Board (FISTAB). This included fund for equipment for teaching and research in the Science departments for setting up a Computer Laboratory, one e-learning room and buying books.
Since 2013-2014 a number of different financial grants including D.P.I.’s Free-studentship and Half-Free studentship, Book Grant from Students’ Aid Fund and 30 TARGET Charity Stipends Rs. 500.00 per month per head have been coming to the aid of the needy students.
Three other important developments have taken place recently, which are of direct help to our students. All 1st year students have to attend a compulsory IT Education programme, namely ‘A Basic Computer Course’ through NIELT (National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology, under the Ministry of Communications and IT & the Department of IT, Government. of India) at a cost of Rs. 500/- only. It will continue for the whole of the first year and all the students are to get ‘Course Completion Certificates’ issued by NIELT. Such nationally recognize certificates are issued by NIELT on the basis of an online test taken by the students at a nominal fee of Rs. 225.00 only.
Classes have been organized in College for applicants of UGC-NET Examination from April 2013. These classes are free of cost for the students, being funded by the University Grants Commission.
Eyeing such plethuna of development plans, Bidhannagar College is an institution which looks after the interest of the students, ensuring a bright future for each of them.
A student has to take up an honours subject for 800 marks and two General subjects for 300 marks each, one of which must be of necessity a non-language subject. All students are required to do Environmental Studies.
Course-specific academic autonomy in conducting the M.Sc. Courses in Zoology and Microbiology has been given to the college by its affiliating University. To these, M.Sc. course in Chemistry has been added from the session 2013-2014. Since 2007, the Department of Zoology has also been offering a postgraduate course in the ‘open education’ system under the aegis of Netaji Subhas Open University.