2,503 students receive degrees at 17th convocation ceremony

Kolkata: St Xavier’s College (Autonomous) wishes to begin a doctoral programme in Economics, for which the inspection team from Calcutta University has already visited the PG and Research department of Economics, principal Dominic Savio said on Tuesday, while presenting the principal’s report 2023 during the 17th convocation and valedictory ceremony of the college.

To ensure that the students are ready for professional progression after graduating, the college is planning on introducing contemporary courses in the multi-disciplinary programmes. These courses include health and fitness, hospitality management.

Discussions are also going on with experts over multidisciplinary courses like Wetland Conservation. Apart from this, Dominic Savio said that seeing the interest shown by the first batch on Artificial Intelligence, they hope to throw it open to students from all departments, including humanities and social sciences.

As part of their ‘Vision 2025’ they are building another campus at EM Bypass. Presently home to the Educational Multimedia Research Centre, research-based science departments and some PG departments will be shifted to another wing at this campus to free up space on the Park Street campus.

This campus will also have an Incubation Centre and a Community Radio Station. “I am happy and proud to announce that our Ragabhpur Campus has successfully bridged the rural-urban divide and has brought about significant changes in the rural areas it serves,” Dominic Savio said.

A total of 2,503 under-graduates, post-graduates, B.Ed and PhD students received their degrees on Tuesday. Nine faculty members were awarded their PhD degrees and eight students received their PhD degrees from St. Xavier’s College. In the 2023 placement session, out of 1,179 registrations, 672 students were placed through on-campus drives and off-campus interviews.

The convocation was attended by state Higher Education minister Bratya Basu, who praised the college’s efforts to maintain inclusivity and take part in social service. The vice-chancellor of Calcutta University Santa Dutta (De) was also invited, but could not turn up for the convocation due to some problem.