Aiming to increase the gross enrolment rate of students for higher education in India, the city’s St. Xavier’s College announced plans for expansion of the campus and courses here on Wednesday.
At Asansol and St. Lawrence School
Addressing journalists, St. Xavier’s College principal J. Felix Raj S.J. said a new college was set up at Asansol in Bardhaman district, which would commence classes from the 2015-16 academic year, and another campus was established at the city’s St. Lawrence School.
Three co-educational sections, with a total of 210 students, of the B.Com department will start from the 2015-16 academic year .
“The present gross enrolment rate in India is 19 per cent which should go up to 25 per cent by 2020. We have capacity to accommodate 8,000 students, yet we received 45,000 applications this year, which means we need to accommodate more students. In order to increase the enrolment rate of students in educational institutions, colleges should respond by academic and physical expansion. We aim to enrol about 16,000 students by 2020. Expansion is a necessity but the quality of education should not suffer,” Fr. Felix Raj said.
Elaborating on the college’s campuses outside the city, he said there was a good response from the College at Raghabpur at the South 24 Parganas district.
Bengali medium
“Classes are being held in Bengali medium at our rural campus at Raghabpur. Currently, Bengali Honours is being taught. We plan to introduce M.A. degree in Bengali and B. Ed. History honours will be introduced this year and at the main campus [in Kolkata] in the next academic year,” Fr. Felix Raj said, adding that a new girls’ hostel in the city’s Beckbagan area would be inaugurated on July 4.
