Asutosh College

Asutosh College

Type	Undergraduate, Postgraduate
Established	1916
Principal	Dr. Dipak Kumar Kar
Students	4000
Location	No. 92, Near Cancer Hospital, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Road, Kolkata, West Bengal 700026, India
Campus	Urban
Sports	Rowing, Football, Cricket.etc.
Affiliations	University of Calcutta
Website	Asutosh College, Calcutta

Asutosh College is a college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, situated in Kolkata, India. Situated in South Kolkata, it was established in the year 1916 as the South Suburban College, under the stewardship of educationist Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, who was the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. The current principal is Dipak Kumar Kar.^[1]

Accreditation

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) visited the college in October 2002 and accredited it with ‘C++’ grade, ended up at the bottom of the table of NAAC-rated colleges in the state, West Bengal. According to Antony Stella, NAAC adviser, the decision was taken on the basis of the institution's self-study reports and the findings of the NAAC.

History

In 1872, the General Committee of the South Suburban Group of Schools was established, presided over by mathematician Sir Asutosh Mukherjee. Forty-three years later, in 1915, permission was sought to establish a college in South Calcutta; a year later the government of India approved the upgrading of South Suburban School to an intermediate college, South Suburban College; Sir Asutosh was named as president of its governing body. The college began operations in July 1916, on Lansdown Road in Calcutta. A year later, it was moved to Russa Road. In 1918, the intermediate college was upgraded to a degree college, offering English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Philosophy, History and Economics (Political Economy and Political Philosophy).

South Suburban College building 1916-17

After Sir Asutosh died in 1924, the college was renamed after him. Teaching of science subjects began in the following year. In 1927, the Asutosh Mukherjee Memorial Institute appealed to Calcutta Corporation for a parcel of land in Hazra Park, to be leased for the construction of a new building, including a library and an auditorium.

In 1934, Sri Shyamaprasad Mukherjee became President of the Governing Body; he served in this capacity until his death. The college moved to its current location in 1935.

The present building occupies 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²), with fifty classrooms and room for about 4000 students. Twenty-eight subjects are taught as Honors/Major at the Undergraduate level.

Asutosh College Training Centre (ACTC) was formed in the Platinum Jubilee Year of the college (1991) to equip students for job-screening examinations.

In 1995, The Department of Computer Science was formed. The first undergraduate batch in Computer Science Honours degree was admitted in 2001.

In the year 2002, a post-graduation course in Environmental Science was introduced. All the departments have their own libraries; the science departments have laboratories.

In 2009, M.A./M.Sc. Course in Geography was introduced. And in 2011, B.Sc. (Hons.) in Environmental Science and M.A. Course in Bengali were introduced.

In 2012, Mother Teresa International Award was conferred to Asutosh College for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of Best College of the Year - 2012.

^[2]

Academics

Courses Offered.^[3]

Undergraduate courses

B.Sc. Hons./Major/General Courses

B.A. Hons./Major/General Courses

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Course

Postgraduate Courses

Master's Degree (Science/Arts) Courses

Recently three UGC approved free Add-On Course on Tourism, Industrial Chemistry, Hospital waste disposal management were introduced by the college.^[4]

Annexe building

The college has an annexe, constructed during the Platinum Jubilee Year (1991) of the college. It is located across Basanta Bose Road, which runs along the north side of the college. This building houses the reading section of the Central Library and several newly emerged as well PG departments. It also houses the Asutosh College Training Centre (ACTC). This was established to equip students for job screening examinations like WBCS, SSC, SET, NET etc.

Awards

Mother Teresa International Award conferred to Asutosh College for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of Best College of the year 2012 on 28 April 2012.

Notable alumni

Artists and musicians

• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
• Anup Ghoshal
• Rupam Islam
• Nachiketa Chakraborty
• Neel Dutt^[5]

Filmmakers, theatre personalities and actors

• Diptendu Pramanick
• Tripti Mitra^[6]
• Bappaditya Bandopadhyay^[7]
• Rabi Ghosh
• Ranjit Mullick
• Antara Biswas
• Mimi Chakraborty
• Saheb Bhattacharya
• Aniket Chattopadhaya
• Rishi Mukherjee (Actor/Script Writer/Director)

Poets and novelists and non-fiction writers

• Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
• Dinesh Das
• Kabita Sinha
• Vattacharja Chandan

Politicians

• Ritabrata Banerjee
• Partha Chatterjee
• Firhad Hakim
• Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
• Madan Mitra
• Gurudas Dasgupta
• Geeta Mukherjee
• Shatarup Ghosh
• Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury^[8]

Social Activists

• Mahasweta Devi^[9]
• Vina Mazumdar

Sportsperson

• Chuni Goswami
• Syed Naeemuddin
• Sunil Chetri
• Benu Dasgupta

Illusionist

• P. C. Sorcar, Jr.

References^[10]

1. ↑ "Fun day for Asutosh College". The Times of India. Sep 5, 2011. 
2. ↑ "History of the College". 
3. ↑ "Asutosh College : Courses Offered". 
4. ↑ http://www.asutoshcollege.in/addon_course.php
5. ↑ "Neel Dutt Profile Family Education Career". Retrieved 12 November 2012. 
6. ↑ "Tripti Mitra Biography by Chandi Mukherjee". Gomolo.com. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2012-10-08. 
7. ↑ "Bappaditya Bandopadhyay Profile & Career". Retrieved 12 November 2012. 
8. ↑ http://docs.myneta.info/affidavits/ls2009db/4858/AbuHasemKhanChoudhury_SC5.jpg
9. ↑ Shubha Tiwari. "Writing as Social Service: The Literary Compass of Mahashweta Devi". boloji.com. Retrieved 11 April 2012. She attended Ashutosh College of Calcutta University (1943-44) 
10. ↑ "Prospectus_2012" (PDF). 

External links

• Asutosh College, Calcutta
• Asutosh College, Calcutta at wikimapia