From the desk of HoD

Greetings from the Department of Microbiology, Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College. It is my great pleasure to introduce this vibrant Department on behalf of all the faculty members, non-teaching staff, students, alumni, and guardians as well.

Since the introduction of the UG course in 2000 and the PG Course in 2005, the department has focused on providing quality education to our students. Consistently good demand ratio, admission ratio, and final year/semester examination pass percentage have streamlined our focus in this regard. To fulfil this endeavour, the highly experienced faculty members are always academically upgrading themselves by publishing their articles in national and international journals and books, and participating in various seminars/workshops, etc. This effort also helped us to sustain in the ever-changing scenario of Higher Education with the implementation of CBCS and now CCF as per NEP 2020. Many of our teachers are involved in curriculum designing of the affiliating University, i.e. University of Calcutta as members of the UG and PG Board of Studies, UG laboratory manual preparation group, and syllabus framing group for CCF of NEP 2020.

Over the years, many renowned external experts have also contributed to shaping the academic excellence the department provides to young minds. Our teachers are university-registered Ph.D. guides with some Ph.D. Scholars working in various funded research projects under their able guidance. Every year, some students of the department are allowed to take up short-term projects/ internships under the supervision of the departmental teachers.

The “BOOST” funding by the WBDBT, Govt. of West Bengal in 2017 and “RUSA” funding by MHRD, Govt. of India in 2018 have significantly supported the stable growth of the department in terms of non-recurring assets and recurring items provided under these developmental schemes. Well-equipped laboratories, ICT-enabled classrooms, and a rich library facility with substantial e-content have supported the academic needs of our students to a great extent.  Arranging industrial visits and Add-on Courses for our students has helped us shoulder the responsibility of outcome-based education as envisioned in NEP 2020.   Many quality seminars/webinars/workshops are arranged by the department to augment the academic and professional aspirations of internal and external stakeholders.

We are proud of our students who are doing excellent in their respective fields of research and other professions in India as well as abroad, often on the basis of our well-judged recommendations, which indicates our success as academic mentors to our students. Career guidance and motivational talks are also arranged by the department and the alumni as well. The students of our department also prepare wall magazine and participate and win awards in quiz, and poster competitions.

As part of our social responsibilities, many students and teachers are involved in health, hygiene, and environment awareness programs. During the COVID-19 lockdown, our department actively participated in hand sanitizer making and its distribution to local people and arranged awareness programs as well.

As part of our “Best Practice”, students are involved in regular quality checking of drinking water facilities on the college campus and also working in the vermicompost facility as part of the institutional best practice of “Save Green, Save the Planet”.

To fulfill cultural inclination, teachers encourage the students to arrange freshers' welcome and farewell programs every year for the new and departing students. Special mention is “Microbeats”, the cultural program arranged by department alumni members in every two years. Students of our departments have won accolades in state/national level cultural events also.

All these efforts have built a well-knit unit of all the stakeholders in tune with the institutional vision and mission of inclusion and empowerment of young minds as well as strong teacher-student, and student-student bonding, the core value inherent in Indian culture.

The growth trajectory of this department is well-recognized through the “Best Microbiology Department of West Bengal” award given by the Microbiologists Society of India in 2022. This award gave us long-lasting motivation and zeal to work even harder toward nurturing the ever-expanding growth tree of the department, the seed of which was sowed twenty-three years ago, with utmost care.