Asutosh College, established in 1916, is a semi-government college in Kolkata. It is considered as one of the most prestigious educational landmarks in Kolkata .It offers undergraduate level courses in various arts, commerce and science subjects and also postgraduate degrees in select science and arts subjects. This college is situated in Southern Kolkata, close to the Jatin Das Park Metro Station, gate No. 2. It is affiliated to the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

History

In 1916, This college was established as the South Suburban College, under the stewardship of educationist Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, who was the then

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of the University of Calcutta. The first

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of the College was made up of many eminent educationist of the city such as Justice Asutosh Chaudhuri, Babu Dwarkanath Chakravarti, Babu Mahendranath Roy, Babu Biraj Mohan Majumdar, Babu Provas Chunder Mitter, Dr. Girindranath Mukherjee et cetera. In 1924, after the death of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the college was renamed as Asutosh College. In the year 2002, a post graduation course in Environmental Science was introduced. Post graduate courses in Applied

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, Bengali,

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, Information Science,

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Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

were introduced in between 2009 and 2014. In 2013, add-on courses in Hospital waste disposal management, Industrial Chemistry and Travel & Tourism were introduced. In 2012, the Mother Teresa International Award was conferred on Asutosh College for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of Best College of the Year. In 2014, University Grants Commission-approved free add-on courses on Tourism, Industrial Chemistry, and Hospital Waste Disposal Management were introduced by the college.

Campuses

A Second Campus of Asutosh College was planned in 2003. The

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Building of the college was inaugurated by the erstwhile

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, Pranab Mukherjee on 1 April 2015. Asutosh college is the 12th college in Kolkata that was first to set up rooftop solar plant to produce 20 kW for its own use.

Departments and courses

The college offers different undergraduate and postgraduate courses and aims at imparting education to the undergraduates and postgraduates of upper-, lower- and middle-class people of Kolkata and its adjoining areas.

Science

Science faculty consists of the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science & Application, Biochemistry, Geology, Botany, Zoology, Physiology, Microbiology, Psychology, Environmental Science, Industrial Fish & Fisheries, Electronics, and Economics.

Arts & Commerce

Arts and Commerce faculty consists of departments of Bengali, English, Communicative English, Sanskrit, Hindi, History, Geography, Political Science, Philosophy, Journalism & Mass Communication, Sociology, and Commerce.

Accreditation

Asutosh College are recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC).Colleges in West Bengal, University Grants Commission
/ref> In 2015, the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

offered a financial incentive of up to Rs. 2 crore each, to colleges with NAAC grading of A or B. The Department of Higher Education wanted institutions like Asutosh College with a proven academic track record of renewing their NAAC grade. But many colleges, including Asutosh, was reluctant to get involved in the process which the Principal at the time called "long drawn and fund consuming, without having any real benefit". While the college was rated C++ in its inaugural assessment back in 2002, it did not apply in 2007 when the rating expired. The first college in West Bengal to be accredited by the

National Assessment and Accreditation Council The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a public autonomous body of the government of India that assesses and accredits higher education institutions (HEIs) in India. It is funded by the University Grants Commission and hea ...

in 2002, it was given an A grade with a CGPA score of 3.22 in 2016, helping it secure its position among the top four affiliated colleges of West Bengal.

Facilities

The college has a separate counselling cell for both victims of ragging as well as possible aggressors, as part of an anti-ragging initiative. All the departments have their own libraries and well-organized laboratories for Science departments.

Controversies

In 1996, then Principal Subhankar Chakraborty was accused of moral policing after he asked female students to dress modestly. In early 2018, sanitary pad dispensers, installed in the college back in 2015 were found to be not working. Many female students did not know about the machines while others felt self-conscious to use the machines which were placed in corridors and other public parts of the campus. However, the college alleged the quality of pads were so low that students gave them a miss. They also said the after sales service of the company roped in by the state government to install and operate the machines, were unpredictable and bad.