Welcome to Durgapur Government College!!
Durgapur Government College, established in 1969, stood out at the time of its inception in being the only government college serving the intellectual needs of a whole generation of young learners from Burdwan (now Paschim Bardhaman and Purba Bardhaman) Bankura, Birbhum and Purulia. Despite experiencing overwhelming changes, the institution continues to stand out as a distinguished house of learning, nurturing positive qualities of both students, faculty members and staff and presently towers as the sole government college in the district of Paschim Bardhaman. Even after the establishment of private colleges and government-aided colleges since the last two decades in the city of Durgapur, the college has retained its singularity by serving as the sole public-funded institution in Durgapur. A fee structure, significantly lower than that of every other college in Durgapur, with teaching faculty from West Bengal Educational Service (WBES) and West Bengal Senior Educational Service (WBSES) cadre, the college continued to be a distinguished institution to afford quality education to all students irrespective of caste, creed, religion, and serves the educational needs of students from economically challenged background who cannot afford inflated fee structure of private colleges. The college is located in the industrial city of Durgapur and is spread over the total land area of 25 acres. The college is recognized by UGC under the sections 2(f) and 12(B) and was accredited by NAAC with “B++” grade in 2007 and with “A” grade in 2017 with CGPA 3.02.
Established to offer bachelor degrees in six arts subjects, the college gradually opened gates for the science and commerce streams. The college was affiliated to The University of Burdwan since June 23, 2015 and subsequently to Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol. Presently, the college offers 27 undergraduate programmes of arts, science and commerce streams, and 3 post-graduate programmes in Chemistry, Applied Geology and Conservation Biology. The Department of Conservation Biology is one of its kind in Eastern India and Department of Geology is one of the few old departments of West Bengal. The college also offers Ph.D. programmes in Chemistry, Geology and Conservation Biology since 2021 under the affiliation of Kazi Nazrul University. The College also has Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU) for the two study centres offering distance education mode.
The college has a dedicated team of well qualified and motivated teaching faculty of 76 full time teachers appointed in the West Bengal Educational Service (WBES) who were recommended by the West Bengal Public Service Commission and appointed by Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal and 14State Aided College Teachers (SACT) approved by the Government of West Bengal. Out of the total 90 teaching faculty strength, 54 have Ph.D. as their highest qualification. There are 26 non-teaching staff members. Seven Faculty members are approved guides of Kazi Nazrul University with total 25 Ph.D. enrolments and one faculty members is the approved research guide under the affiliation of The University of Burdwan with three Ph.D. enrolments. Faculty members are actively involved in research activities with international and national collaborations with renowned researchers and professors of University of Valencia, Spain, University of Zakho. Iraq, Ibn Zohr University, Morocco, University Chouaib Doukkali, El Jadida, Faculty of Science, Morocco, Department of Industrial Engineering, Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, University of Calcutta, The University of Burdwan etc. Eight major research projects sponsored by SERB, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, DST, Government of West Bengal, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, West Bengal Zoo Authority, Government of West Bengal and Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Government of India have been completed/ongoing by our faculty members since 2018. More than 200 research publications in reputed international and national journals have been published by the faculty members since last five years along with more than 50 book chapters with international and national publishers. The college publishes multidisciplinary peer reviewed open access journal Communique (ISSN: 0973-8584) to encourage new ideas and works in all the fields. The college also encourages sharing and transfer of knowledge through regular international, national and state level seminars, conferences and workshops. Interdisciplinary learning is emphasized in undergraduate education through flexibility in the choice of subjects, experiments and projects and through dissertations and projects in post-graduate education. Interaction with external experts is regularly conducted through invited lectures and interactive sessions. The 6th Regional science and Technology Congress was organized in January 2024 in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, Government of West Bengal.
The student strength of the college in the academic session 2023-24 is 1686. Student-Centric teaching and learning practices are adopted by the college which include field work through experiential learning and student projects, student seminars, role play, use of bloom’s taxonomy to frame questions, use of rubrics for assessments, new experiments beyond course curriculum, hands on training, educational tours, research laboratory visits, industrial training, workshops along with the traditional chalk and talk lecture method.
The college received the DST-FIST Scheme in 2013 and also acquired funds under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for infrastructural development. The college was also selected for the prestigious DBT STAR COLLEGE SCHEME of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India in September 2022 for six science departments, namely Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology to promote undergraduate science education with a budget outlay of Rupees One Crore Thirty Eight Lakhs Four Hundred Sixty Nine only. Within the campus of 25 acres with rich floral and faunal diversity offering ample field work opportunities for the Nature’s Club and for undergraduate and post-graduate education, the college has infrastructure to cater to the students’ needs. Classes are held in two sessions, which include morning session for commerce stream and day session for arts and science streams. There are total 42 classrooms and 20 laboratories including the central computer laboratory. Licensed software such as MATLAB, Mathematica, Arc-GIS, Plagiarism Detection Software are available for academic activities. The college has a well equipped central library with over 80000 books in various disciplines, the NLIST Membership since 2017. During the academic session 2023-24, the college availed subscription of Knimbus Digital Library Platform to allow uploading of E-content by faculty members, free access to Springer journals and to provide complete digital library experience to students, faculty members and staff. The Open Access Public Catalogue (OPAC) and Library automation through KOHA is also available for the library users. Faculty members have created their own MOODLE sites to enable student interaction beyond the class hours and ensure the effective use of learning management system. Other infrastructural services include Central Instrumentation Facility, College Auditorium, Smart Classrooms, Boys’ Common Room, Girls’ Common Room, Gymnasium, 24 hours security services, residential quarters for faculty members and staff, Boys’ Hostel, Girls’ Hostel, Sick Room and other related services. The college has dedicated career counselling and placement cell to provide offline and online career guidance and skill enhancement along with campus recruitments. During the academic session 2023-24, on-campus recruitments by TCS were arranged by the cell and also students were provided all sorts of training and assistance for off campus interviews. Our students have been university rank holders and several alumni are placed in IITs, Universities and institutes national repute. Students have also shown outstanding all India Ranks in JAM examinations during the last five years. The institution also has an active registered alumni association, which has organized events on Women empowerment and Entrepreneurship development during the academic session 2023-24. The new initiatives of the institution includes establishment of Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Education in May 2024 and the Entrepreneurship Development Cell in February 2024.
The college two active NSS Units and NCC unit. Students and faculty members actively participate in extension, co-curricular and extracurricular activities. NCC cadets participate in several training camps, Republic Day parade and perform adventure activities such as Mountaineering, Rock Climbing; Ice skating, Trekking etc and have won prizes and Governor’s Medal for Best State NCC Cadet and National Championship. NSS camps are organized every year and NSS units I and II perform Campus cleaning, surveys, awareness campaign, workshops in and around local community and other social works throughout the year. Rigorous Physical training and outstanding achievements of students in international, national, state and district level events has marked our college history. Cultural activities such as Basanta Utsab, Bhasa Divosh, Nazrul Jayanti, Rabindra Jayanti, Agomoni as Pre Puja Celebration are celebrated in the campus and also the creative impulse of students in arts and crafts is encouraged through interdepartmental road art competitions. The college also celebrates and commemorates important days such as Independence Day, Republic Day, International Mother language Day, International Day of Biological Diversity, International Yoga Day, National Integration Day, Van Mahotsav Week, International Women’s Day,Rabindra Jayanti, Nazrul Jayanti, National Science Day, World Soil Day, World Mental Health Day, Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, World Earth Day, World Environment Day, World Pangolin Day, World Malaria Day, World No-Tobacco day, Black day Observation etc. The college also takes sincere initiatives to provide dedicated support services to the stakeholders through Women cell, anti ragging committee and squad, grievance redressal committee, internal complaints committee, equal opportunity cell, students’ health welfare and psychological counselling cell, Health and Hygiene Advisory Committee and Committee to Cater to the needs of differently abled to provide a conducive learning atmosphere. The college provides each and every assistance to students to apply and avail different scholarship schemes such as Swami Vivekananda Merit Cum Means Scholarship Scheme, Post Matric Scholarship, Kanyashree Prakalpa, Aikyashree Scheme, National Scholarship Schemes etc and also the Student Credit Card Scheme. Full time Ph.D. Scholars avail UGC and CSIR fellowships. The college regularly promotes environmental consciousness through several events and has also signed MOUs with NGOs such as Durgapur Wildlife Information and Nature Guide Society (WINGS), Birdwatchers Society, Estuaraine and Coastal Studies Foundation,Sarisha Wildlife and Ecology Society etc.
The college administration believes in decentralization and participatory management. Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) serves as the nodal agency for review and institutionalization of all quality initiatives in line with the vision, mission and objectives of the college in line with the strategic plan. This includes collection, analysis and action taken report on the feedback from stakeholders, collaboration with departments to organize events, reforms in the teaching, learning and assessment strategies, along with review of the students’ progression and placement, regular organization of training programmes and workshops for students, faculty and staff, and also providing suggestions for applying to the Government and funding agencies for infrastructural development. The College also consists of the Teachers’ Council to nominate committees related to academic matters, and administrative committees are also constituted to ensure proper functioning of the college activities. The College has conducted internal academic audit by the IQAC and external academic audit by the affiliating university, gender audit by the Women Cell, green audit by the Department of Conservation Biology and the College Campus Environmental Sub-Committee and the geographical diversity audit by Equal Opportunity Cell.
Durgapur Government college aspires to become an institution known for effective conjunction of teaching and research, providing quality education with a minimal fee structure, promoting academic, physical, moral and cultural development of students, preparing students for the competitive world and ensure ccademic and professional development of all students, teachers and staff.