St Xavier’s to submit draft proposal for varsity to govt

The authorities of the famed St Xavier’s College (Autonomous) would submit the draft proposal to West Bengal government for setting up its university in the country. “We will submit the letter of intent to the state government in a month’s time and also the draft proposal. We hope that the university will start 

functioning from July 2017,” Principal of St Xavier’s Fr Felix Raj said.

“We are keen that the private university to be set up on on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. We also want the state government to support the university financially in order to keep the fees at a reasonable level,” he said.

Once through, the proposed institution would be the second Jesuit-run university in the country 

after Odisha, he said, adding the Bill on it would have to be passed in the legislative Assembly. The proposed university would be minority in nature, the principal said, adding two buildings meant for it were already completed at Rajarhat near the metropolis.

Work on the hostel, library and research buildings were on, he said, adding initially, the university would offer courses in MBA, MSW, B.Com, BBA and M.Com. The college was in the process of tying up with various US universities for student and faculty exchange programmes.

“We are having talks with Loyola Mary Mount University, Fordham University, St Cloud University, St Joseph’s University among others for this purpose”, he said on Thursday. The college would also offer Ph.D programmes in microbiology, biotechnology, physics and and commerce. For the under graduate courses for academic session 2016-17, the college had received 32,000 applications out of which only 2600 students would be taken, he added.

St. Xavier’s College is a graduate and undergraduate college. Founded in 1860, it is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Basque Jesuit of the 16th century, who ministered in India.