Goalpara College is an institution of higher learning in western

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was established in 1955 with the help and cooperation from local people. At present, it has 16 departments with a total staff strength of 110. It is affiliated to

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assem ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

History

Before 1955, the undivided

Goalpara district Goalpara district is an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam. History It was a princely state ruled by the Koch kings and the then ruler of the undivided kingdom. Today the erstwhile Goalpara district is divided into Kokrajha ...

had only one degree college at

Dhubri Dhubri (Pron: ˈdhubri) is an old town and headquarter of Dhubri district in Indian state of Assam. It is an old town on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, with historical significance. In 1883, the town was first constituted as a Municipal Bo ...

, the then district headquarters situated on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. Owing to poverty, poor communication system and other socio-economic problems, many aspirant youths of the remote places of the south bank of the

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

were not able to get admitted to that college. An urgent need for a college on the south bank of the Brahmaputra was felt. On 8 August 1955, Goalpara College came into existence with 6 lecturers and 22 students under the principalship of Wazuddin Ahmed, M.Sc, B.L. With the unstinting support and guidance of Khagendra Nath, the M.L.A. of Goalpara and

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

, and relentless endeavour of a group of sympathetic and enthusiastic local people, ultimately this undergraduate college was established in

Goalpara Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati. Etymology The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The villa ...

. With the cooperation and financial help of the generous people of the area, soon there was a permanent building to make it a full-fledged institution of higher education in 1959. It was brought under the deficit grant-in-aid system in 1962. When the college began to receive the deficit grants-in-aid from the government and got a little over the financial constraints, the same group of enthusiastic people undertook another bold venture of opening a science faculty. As a result, the science faculty was introduced in 1966 and was brought under the deficit grant-in-aid system in 1974.

Departments

The college offers three-year

degree courses An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...

in the

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

faculties leading to

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

(BSc) and

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA). Besides these, the college provides two-year Higher Secondary courses (certificate) in both faculties. The college has the provision for major (

honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

) course of study in the following: * Subjects in the Arts faculty: ** Assamese **

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

** Mathematics ** Philosophy **

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

** Statistics **

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. . * Subjects in the Science faculty: **

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

** Chemistry, **

, **

, ** Mathematics, **

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, ** Statistics, **

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

and ** Environmental Science.

Campus

The college is in the heart of

on a sprawling campus of around of land.

Library

The library of the college is well equipped with about 27,000 books, comprising textbooks, reference books,

encyclopedias An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

and several valuable collections covering wide range of subjects. The library regularly subscribes to 22 national/international journals/

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also exampl ...

in Assamese,

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

s and seven national and local dailies. It is well maintained through computer based software (SOUL). Reprographic facility is available for the library users and Internet facility is being installed. A book bank in the library facilitates the economically weaker sections of the students. The UN/UNESCO Reading Library Corner provides access to UN

publications To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conv ...

Achievements

The NAAC accredited the college with a B+ grade in 2004. The college caters the need of higher education of about 2000 students in its arts and science streams. In 2008, the college was selected for grants under FIST (Faculty Improvement of Science and Technology) scheme of the DST (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India). The college has received grants from DBT (Department of Bio-technology, Government of India) for modernising life science education components. Along with the regular courses under

and Assam Higher Secondary Education Council, the College provides distance and open education under IGNOU (

Indira Gandhi National Open University Indira Gandhi National Open University, known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20& ...

), KKHSOU (Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University) and IDOL (Institute of Distance and Open Learning, GU). The college regularly organises national seminars and conferences.

Hostels

The college has two separate hostels for boys and girls with capacity of 50 seats each, located inside the college premise.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20180411224804/http://goalparacollege.in/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20180411224804/http://goalparacollege.in/ {{coord, 26.1708, 90.6266, type:edu_region:IN-AS, display=title Colleges affiliated to Gauhati University Educational institutions established in 1955 Universities and colleges in Assam Goalpara 1955 establishments in Assam