Mentor group to hold monsoon sessions

Kolkata: In a major stride towards improvement of teaching quality at Presidency University, the mentor group has decided to hold monsoon sessions in the varsity from 2018. Outstanding scholars and teachers from foreign universities will be coming to Presidency during the month of July-August and will teach courses that will be 'intensive' but for which students of Presidency will get 'credit'.

"We will invite the most outstanding faculty members and visiting professors from across the globe to offer intensive courses. We feel this will dramatically improve the quality of teaching in Presidency. Universities abroad are in recess during the monsoon and we are hopeful that these professors will love to come here and interact with the students and teachers," chief of mentor group Sugata Bose said. Bose who is a Harvard historian held a meeting with some other members of the mentor group at Presidency University on Saturday where the overall assessment of the university over the last six years was made and the problem of vacant seats was also discussed. The comprehensive report in this regard will be released on January 20 which marks the Foundation Day of the university. The report will also have recommendations from the mentor group to address the issue of vacant seats in the institution.

"It has been decided that the mentor group will work in coordination with the varsity to fine tune the timing of admission tests, counselling and so on and so forth. We will be suggesting that once a student has cleared the admission test in a particular subject there should be an open house for them where they will be informed why they should study this subject in Presidency and exactly what will they be taught and what will be the resources available. This will arouse curiosity among them," Bose said. It may be mentioned that he had already taken an expert opinion regarding the same from Amartya Sen before he left Harvard.