St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
 The Campus | |
| Motto | Nihil Ultra (Latin) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | Nothing Beyond |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 16 January 1860 |
Religious affiliation | Jesuit (Roman Catholic) |
Academic affiliation | University of Calcutta |
| Rector | Dominic Savio S.J.[1] |
| Principal | Felix Raj S.J.[1] |
Administrative staff | 50 |
| Students | 4000 |
| Undergraduates | 3000 |
| Postgraduates | 1000 |
| Location |
30, Mother Teresa Sarani Kolkata – 700016  (Map) |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colours | Blue and White |
| Athletics | Track and Field |
| Sports | Basketball, Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Table Tennis |
| Nickname | The Xaverians |
| Website |
www |
 | |
St. Xavier's College is a graduate and undergraduate college located in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1860, it is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Basque Jesuit of the 16th century, who ministered in India. In 2006, it became the first autonomous college in West Bengal, India,[2] and is affiliated to the University of Calcutta. The college is soon to become a full-fledged university, and will add new courses including an MBA. Currently, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata offers Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees, diplomas and certificates. A Student after completing his/her Degree,Diploma or Certificate course is referred to as a 'Xaverian'.
History
The college was founded in 1860 by the Jesuits, an all-male Catholic religious order formed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The college is named after Francis Xavier, the 16th century Jesuit saint from Basque country, north of Spain. The founder of the college is Fr. Henri Depelchin, who oversaw most of the ground work during the foundation years.[3]
Sans Souci Theatre
Sans Souci Theatre occupied 30 Park Street (now Mother Teresa Sarani), Kolkata-700016, until a fire in 1843 burnt it to the ground. The site was bought by 7 Belgian Jesuits. It is here that the present day campus stands tall.[4]
Foundation Years
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The present site of the college at 30, Park Street (Mother Teresa Sarani) is an amalgamation of numbers 10 and 11 of Park Street. Premise number 11 was bought for Rs 45,000.00 by Fr. Depelchen with generous donations from the Anglo-Indians and help from the home Province of Belgium. Park street is a landmark street in the heart of Kolkata, a melting pot of its diverse cultural, culinary, social, and intellectual milieu.
The college opened with 40 students. Two years later, in 1862, it affiliated with Calcutta University. However, there was a paucity of funds for expansion work in terms of classrooms and to accommodate the Jesuits fathers. So in 1864 the Rector used the newspapers to appeal to the public of Calcutta for assistance and received a magnanimous response from well-wishers in the city. Also, Jesuits Fr. Henri Depelchin and his assistant Bro. Koppes, the architect of the new school, went around personally collecting funds. The present, imposing, five-storied building took 6 years to build, 1934 to 1940, at a cost of Rs 9 lakhs, which came from donations from the people of Calcutta, assistance from Belgium, and generous rental fees from the U.S. army that occupied the building during the Second World War.[5][6] Expansion of the college has been a ceaseless effort and a campus in Salt Lake City, Kolkata, is on the way, along with a second boys' hostel not far from the existing one.
Goethals Library
The Goethals library, situated above the College Chapel, houses some of the oldest periodicals, journals, and books. The College received these treasures in 1908 from the Archbishop of Calcutta, Paul Goethals, S.J. These well-preserved treasures have made the library a spot of historical significance.
Postal Stamp
A commemorative stamp was issued by the Indian Post on 12 April 1985 depicting the college campus, thus recognizing the college's contribution to society.[5]
Courses
The college has Morning batch for boys only, that offers the Bachelor of Commerce degree. The Day section of the college houses the Arts and Science departments which offer undergraduate (honours) degrees in various subjects like English, Bengali, Political Science, Sociology, Microbiology, Computer Science, Animation and Multimedia, Mass Communication and Videography, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry, Physics, and Economics. Masters programs in Commerce (evening session), Biotechnology (integrated 5 year M.Sc), Physics, Microbiology, and Education are housed in the college along with the co-educational Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Business Administration programs.[7]
The college, in its first-ever foreign collaboration, has entered into cooperation with the University of Manitoba, Canada. The MOU was unveiled on 4 February 2008 by the principal of the college Fr. P.C. Mathew and the dean of the faculty of food and agricultural sciences at Manitoba University, Professor Michael Trevan.[8] This college also has CAP and other diploma and certificate courses to offer. The batches function in both day and evening.
Infrastructure
The college classes are spread over four floors across two buildings. There are over 50 classrooms, half a dozen audio-visual rooms, and three computer laboratories, each with a capacity for over 70 students.
The college also has well-equipped physics, chemistry, and biotechnology laboratories to support the requirements of their respective departments; the Mass Communication and Videography department has a video library to assist its film students. The Central Library, spread over two floors, houses a reference library, periodicals, and scientific journals. There is also an archive. The auditorium, equipped with a state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, can seat over 800. Football and basketball courts are located behind the main college building and are shared with St. Xavier's Collegiate School, which is housed in an adjacent flank of the college building.
Hangouts
The canteen "Green Benches" - a popular student hangout – and Fr. Joris's Corner - an in-house stationery shop – are located parallel to the sports grounds. These are abuzz with business during off periods and breaks.[9] The "Green Benches" has a city-wide reputation for socializing and for serious discussion.
Cultural Events
The college has a culture of festivals, inter- and intra-college, that span its academic calendar. Also the campus and auditorium often host discussions and events like the NDTV debate on the Rizwanur Rahman episode.[10] Celebrity guests appearing on campus include:
- Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a part of the college's annual Earth Summit, more than once
- Pranab Mukherjee, current President of India
- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for the 150th year celebrations
- KK Mohit Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Mika Singh, Monali Thakur, among others performing at Beyond Barriers in the annual alumni-organized musical show on the college grounds
- Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, and Prakash Jha promoting their film Aarakshan in 2011
- Ranbir Kapoor, Anurag Basu, and Priyanka Chopra promoting their film Barfi in 2012
- Rani Mukerji promoting her film Mardaani in August 2014
- Shah Rukh Khan and his team promoting their film Happy New Year in October 2014
Convocation - Keynote Speakers
- M. K. Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal
- P. Chidambaram, Former Home Minister and Finance Minister
- Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister
Community & Clubs
Apart from service to the community in the educational sphere, Xavier is also involved in environmental issues, youth welfare, women's welfare, and poverty alleviation. It has an elected Students' Council (SXCSC) which co-ordinates all the cultural activities on campus. The college's many clubs build leadership, creativity, and managerial skills in students. The clubs include:[11]
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Sports & Festivals
The college has facilities for cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, and caroom, played at the intra-college and inter-college levels. A sports day is organised every December, when students compete in track and field events before a large city-wide audience. The Undergraduate level sponsors the following prominent festivals:
- XAVOTSAV, a cultural festival held annually in late January.[14] Colleges of Kolkata and various other colleges from accross India participate in Band Performance, Neon Dance, Western Dance, Singing, and there are special performances by personalities such as Nucleya, Papon Angaraag Mahanta and the East India Company, Miss Tara, DJ Harish, Euphoria, Parikrama. This festival is organized by the Students' Council. The Council raises a healthy amount by means of sponsorship and donates roughly 40% of the amount raises, i.e, the surplus for scholarship. The percentage varies from year to year.
- INERTIA, an international marketing festival held annually in February or March.[15] The events include Ambush Marketing, Ad Spoof, Brand Manager, International Trade, and Crisis Management. Participants include undergraduates as well as post-graduates from around India and its neighboring countries. The festival is organized by the students along with professors from the Department of Management (Commerce).
- INSIGNIA, a management festival held annually in mid February.[16] The top ten commerce colleges of India are invited to fight it out in events like Human Resource Management (HRM), Best Manager, Business Quiz, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Development (ED), among many others. The organizers are students pursuing the Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree.
- XAVIER'S MANAGEMENT CONVENTION (XMC), a national management festival held annually in February or March.[17] It includes events like Stress Interview (SI), B-Quiz (BQ), Business Plans(BP), and Advertising. It is organized by students of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA).
- SPECTRUM, a festival of the Department Of Physics. It includes debate, quiz, drama, and lectures by famous noble laureates. It generally spans two days.
- ANALYTICA, a festival of the Department of Mathematics. Along with quiz, wiz, and exhibition, there are lectures on mathematics by famous mathematicians.
- THE SPOTLIGHT, a culture fest held annually in September or October. Christian colleges of Kolkata participate in events like Battle of Bands, Junk Funk, Dare To Differ, and Movie Buzz. This is organised by The All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF) unit of the college.
St.Xavier's is the only English medium college to have separate festivals for Hindi and Bengali.
- VIVIDHA, a Hindi festival with events like Drama Competition, Extempore, and Elocution.[18] Hindi is used throughout the festival. This festival is organized by the members of the Hindi Literary Society (HLS).
- XAVULLASH, the Bengali festival, comprises events like Debate, Extempore, Elocution etc. The mode of communication throughout the festival is Bengali. The Bengali Literary Society (BLS) are the organizers.
Publications
- XAVERIAN: articles by students and staff members who share their experience of college.[19] It also includes interviews with famous alumni and photos of passing out batches.
The following journals are published annually and distributed in academic circles:
- YOUTHINK: commerce journal with articles by students and staff on current commerce-related issues.[20] Past topics include The Business of Sports, Turbulent Times, Superpowers, Change, and The Gamble.
- ECO ECHOES: from the Economics Department.[21]
- HORIZON: from the Department of Physics. It highlights technological advances from across the world.
- PEBBLE: from St Xavier's College Science Association(SXCSA).
- CHIASMA : from the Department of Biotechnology.
- BEACON : from the Department of Mathematics.
- PRAKARSHO: from the Department of Statistics.
Philanthropy & social activities
The college has adopted several villages in West Bengal. It funds the building of proper infrastructure and provides food and shelter for the needy residing in these villages. This is funded by the students and alumni. This project is called Prayas and was started by Rev. Felix Raj, S.J., as principal of the college.[22]
Also, college students assist at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP) where they teach the special children of IICP every week.[23]
Village to College Camp, a social service festival, is held annually in early January. Underprivileged children are brought to the college campus from nearby villages and slums for a fun-filled day of activity and entertainment. They are also provided with free meals and gifts. This festival is organized by the National Service Scheme (NSS).[24]
Alumni Association (SXCAA)
The college has a very active Alumni Association with the Principal of the college as its President.[25] The association supports the college in several projects by extending financial and managerial assistance. SXCAA is registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act.[26] It was the first alumni association in Kolkata to be granted 80G Certification from the Income Tax Department, thus acknowledging SXCAA's philanthropic activities.
SXCAA of late has been expanding its reach to ex-students, by opening chapters in several cities around the world, including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, London, Dubai, New York, Dhaka, and Australia.[27]
Project 'Lakshaya' was launched by the college to solicit donations from alumni to fund a new campus.[28] The college was allotted 16 acres of land at Rajarhat (New Town) by the West Bengal government, for the new campus. The plot of land will cost a subsidized 64 crores.[29]
Rankings
| Department/Course | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commerce/B.Com | 2nd[30] | 2nd[31] | 1st[32]
1st[33] |
2nd[33] | 3rd[34] | 4th[35] | |
| Science/BSc | 4th[36] | 3rd[37] | 5th[38] | 3rd[39] | 5th[40] | 2nd[39] | 8th[40] |
| Arts/BA | 5th[36] | 7th[41] | 5th[42] | 5th[42] | 9th[43] | 5th[43] | 6th[43] |
Notable alumni
India
Business
-
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman, UBG
-
Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG
-
Sanjiv Goenka, Vice Chairman, RPG
-
Vinay Maloo, Chairman, Enso Group
- Lakshmi Mittal Chairman & CEO, ArcelorMittal
- Arjun Malhotra – Co-founder of HCL Technologies and Chairman of Headstrong
- R Gopalakrishnan – Executive Director of Tata Sons
- Chandrajit Banerjee – Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry
- Omkar Goswami – Director on the Board of Infosys, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Forbes
- Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla – Co-founders of Lexulous[44]
Sports
-
Norman Pritchard
Dual Silver Medalist,
1900 Paris Olympics -
Leander Paes
Bronze Medalist,
1996 Atlanta Olympics -
Sourav Ganguly
Indian Cricket Captain,
2000–2005
Academics
- Jagadish Chandra Bose – Scientist, Fellow of the Royal Society
- Andre Beteille – Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics.
Diplomats
- Ronen Sen – former ambassador to the United States of America[45] and current Director of Tata Motors[46]
Arts & Entertainment
- Prosenjit Chatterjee – National Film Award, Jury Award, 2007
- Sabyasachi Mukherjee – Internationally Acclaimed Fashion Designer
- Utpal Dutt- Best Actor,1970
- Sombhu Mitra – Indian film actor, received the Padma Bhushan and Ramon Magsaysay Award
- Anil Chatterjee – Lead Actor in Meghe Dhaka Tara listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- Victor Banerjee – Nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1985 for the movie A Passage to India
- Aki Narula – Fashion Designer[47]
- Abhishek Poddar – Prominent art collector[48]
Writers
- Buddhadeb Guha – Recipient of Ananda Puraskar
- Tarashankar Banerjee- Distinguished Bengali novelist; received Jnanpith Award and Padma Bhushan
- Pramatha Chaudhuri – Writer during the Bengal Renaissance
Science
- Jagadish Chandra Bose
Inventor of Crescograph - Ananda Chakrabarty Genetically Engineered a Pseudomonas Bacteria
Other
- Ramananda Chatterjee – Father of Indian journalism
- Mahendra Lal Bose – Educationist and Philanthropist
Pakistan
- Huseyn Suhrawardy – Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Fazal Akbar – 6th Chief Justice of Pakistan
- Hamoodur Rahman- 7th Chief Justice of Pakistan
Bangladesh
- Jamal Nazrul Islam – physicist
- Quazi Nuruzzaman- Awarded, Bir Uttom
- Captain Abdul Halim Chowdhury - Former Minister, Bangladesh Government
- Nawab Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury – Co-Founder of University of Dhaka
- Shawkat Osman – Recipient of Independence Day Award, the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh
- Syed Manzur Elahi – Chairman of Mutual Trust Bank Bangladesh, Apex Footwear and former adviser to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
Nepal
- Iman Xin Chemjong – Noted Limbu Historian
Notable faculty
St. Xavier's has benefited from the services of prominent faculty and professors whose teachings have influenced generations of students.
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See also
References
- 1 2 "Aministration". St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
- ↑ sxccal.edu Autonomous Notice Retrieved on 4 February 2008
- ↑ Foundation of SXC
- ↑ History of the institution
- 1 2 indianpost.com commemorative stamp Retrieved on 4 February 2008
- ↑ sxccal.edu history Retrieved on 6 February 2008
- ↑ "List of Courses".
- ↑ economictimes.indiatimes.com tie-up with The University of Manitoba Retrieved on 6 February 2008
- ↑ "Pictures and description of infrastructure".
- ↑ The Rizwanur Debate on NDTV
- ↑ "List of clubs and societies".
- ↑ Leadership Training Service (LTS) Official Website
- ↑ SXC Placement Cell Official Blog
- ↑ Xavotsav
- ↑ Inertia
- ↑ Insignia reference
- ↑ Xavier's Management Convention(XMC)
- ↑ Vividha
- ↑ Xaverian Magazine
- ↑ Youthink Journal
- ↑ Eco Echoes Journal
- ↑ Prayas
- ↑ IICP association
- ↑ Village to College Camp
- ↑ SXCAA
- ↑ SXCAA Official Site
- ↑ SXCAA Chapters
- ↑ Project Lakshaya
- ↑ New campus cost
- ↑ "India's Best Commerce Colleges 2012: Rank 2". Indiatoday.intoday.in.
- ↑ "India's Best Commerce Colleges 2011: Rank 2". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ SXC, the best Commerce college
- 1 2 "India Today Rankings". 8 July 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ Maheshwari, Shruti (4 June 2007). "India Today". India Today. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ Bali, Pallavi (5 June 2006). "India Today". India Today. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- 1 2 "2012 India Today Rankings". Indiatoday.intoday.in.
- ↑ "Lady Shri Ram College for Women Best Arts Colleges 2011 India Today Survey". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ http://media2.intoday.in/microsites/bestcolleges/Science_2010.pdf
- 1 2 "15 year toppers in Science colleges : Best Colleges: India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- 1 2 "India Today". Specials.indiatoday.com. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ "Lady Shri Ram College for Women Best Arts Colleges 2011 India Today Survey". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- 1 2 http://media2.intoday.in/microsites/bestcolleges/Arts_2010.pdf
- 1 2 3 "India Today". Specials.indiatoday.com. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ↑ Lexulous
- ↑ Ronen Sen
- ↑ Tata
- ↑ "Aki Narula:Biography". indobase.
- ↑ "Abhishek Poddar". The Arts Trust.
External links
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Coordinates: 22°32′54″N 88°21′21″E / 22.54837°N 88.35596°E
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