The University aspires to become an institute par excellence and maintain a top class standard comparable to the best international universities by tapping human potential from all sections of the society and educate young students to excel in their domain
Vidyasagar University, named after one of the most illustrious sons of Bengal as well as one of the doyens of Indian Renaissance, Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, has grown out of a long cultural and educational movement in West Bengal in general and in the undivided district of Midnapore in particular. The idea of founding a University in the district was mooted by the various organizations, notably by the Regional Education Association, Midnapore, headed by Professor A.K. Gayen of IIT, Kharagpur. The Ghani Committee appointed by the U.G.C. also suggested, among others, for the setting up of a University in Midnapore on the ground of its ‘having a compact area and a manageable number of colleges’ (at that time there were 36 colleges with an enrolment of about 42,000), and also of its having the great advantage of co-operation of the IIT, Kharagpur. The Committee was also of the opinion that the new University would develop on the lines suited to the needs of this backward area.
Paramount Educational and Infrastructural Facilities
The university has a wide range of infrastructural facilities including Administrative block (New and Old), Commerce & Management block, Humanities block, Science block, Centre Library, indigenous power house, state-of-art auditorium, student amenity centre, playground, boys’& girls’ hostels, and teacher & nonteaching staff residential gallery. A fully automated central library using ultramodern RFID method for quick accession and requisition is in place. The university has a Metrological Park for providing environmental data. It also has one ‘Adivasi Museum’ to promote research and education of ‘Adivasi culture’. The university also provides many other distinct facilities including conveniences for differently abled persons – ramp, toilets, wheel chair, and green transport within campus. It provides transport facilities to the students and employees. Wi-Fi facility is provided throughout the campus including the residential area. There is also a special app for students known as “Chhatrabandhu”. Many health support facilities are provided to the students in the campus including a medical unit, 24 hours ambulance, and medical shop in the campus. Many other amenities are also made available to the students including gymnasium for male and female (separately), sophisticated instrumental facility within the campus, a number of smart class rooms, and facility of remote user system in central library. A number of departments of the university have been recognized by UGC and DST through their UGC-SAP and DST-FIST programmes.
The university has received NAAC Accreditation (Cycle 3: CGPA: 2.86) and offers many popular academic programs including M. Sc in Chemistry, M. Sc in Applied Mathematics with Oceanology and Computer Programming, M. Sc in Zoology, M. Sc in Human Physiology with Community Health, M.A in English and History, M.A in Santali, M.B.A, Integrated M .Phil. -Ph.D. Program in Life Science, M.Phil. in Women Studies, and M. Sc in Remote Sensing (RS-GIS).
About the Vice-Chancellor
The University has evolved remarkably under the leadership of Professor Ranjan Chakrabarti, Vice- Chancellor, in the last six years. He is a former Professor and Head of the Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Professor Chakrabarti was a recipient of the Fulbright Post–Doctoral Fellowship at Brown University (USA) and in 1997 he was awarded the prestigious Charles Wallace Fellowship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) to explore the social and cultural implications of power and the exercise of colonial power in such social or cultural spaces or sites such as the forest and its animals. A remarkable change in the quality and infrastructure of the university has occurred after he joined as the Vice-Chancellor in 2011.
Major Achievements and Collaborations
Throughout its illustrious journey, Vidyasagar University has achieved many remarkable landmarks. It has been ranked among the top 100 Universities of India by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), MHRD. Being ranked 87th in India and 4th in the state, the university has made its niche among the first hundred universities of the country. Situated in Paschim Medinipur, in the remote heartland of tribal habitation, Vidyasagar University has now achieved the distinction of being the only university in West Bengal to have a smart campus. The varsity signed a couple of Memorandums of Understanding with the University of Lodz, Poland and the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The newly established publication division of the varsity has begun its maiden journey by symbolically bringing out an aesthetically designed authentic volume of Vidyasagaar Rachanavali. An impetus has been created in the research environment by adopting the principle “one teacher and research project” as proposed by the present Vice-Chancellor of the university. The university has been declared as a smart campus. The Central Library of the University has become a Digital Library. Vidyasagar University bagged the 1st position in the 33rd Inter-Varsity Youth Festival 2017-18 in music event (Folk orchestra), and also qualified for the South Asian Inter-Varsity Youth Festival, 2017-18. It has also adopted a number of villages for outreach activities including social welfare programmes.
Accomplished Alumni
Vidyasagar University has produced many alumni who have achieved success and have made it big in various walks of life. Some of the accomplished alumni of the university include Dr. Bijoy Krishna Das, Associate Professor, IIT Madras, Chennai, India; Dr. Rina Maiti , Assistant Professor, IISC, Bangalore; Dr. Saijuddin Sekh , Associate, Department of Nutrition and International Health, John Hopkins University, USA; Prof. Dipanjan Pan, Assistant Professor , Carle Illinois College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Prof. Subhadip Ghosh, Dept. of Chemistry, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, Odisha; Dr. Anirban Mahapatra, Assistant Director, Editorial Development at American Chemical Society, 1155 16TH STREET NW, Washington, D.C., USA; Dr. Ramaprasad Bhattacharya, Joint Director, Directorate of Public Instruction, Higher Education Department, Govt. of West Bengal; Dr. Arun Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Centre For Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Science, IIT Kharagpur; Dr. Siddheswar Maikap , Associate Professor, Chang Gung University, Taiwan; Dr. Saroj Maity, Scientist , Space Applications Center, ISRO, Jodhpur Tekra, and many more.
Career Opportunities and Exposures
The university provides a wide array of exposures and opportunities for the educational and professional development of the students. Ph.D. / D.Sc. Programmes are conducted by most of the academic departments. It conducts campus interview through placement cell. Moreover, training programme for NET/SET is conducted for the academic growth and development of the students. The university has a Language Laboratory for training and guidance of the students. It also conducts career oriented computer courses.
Future Prospects
The university has achieved many goals throughout its successful journey, and plans to continue doing so in the future. It aims towards the upliftment of the socio-economically backward population of the ‘Jangal Mahal’ region. The university plans to introduce more job oriented courses for the students. They plan to introduce an online feedback system replacing the manual one for the evaluation of teachers by students, and to introduce the School of Life Science and school/center for other disciplines. Moreover, it also plans to increase the number of international collaborations for teaching and research.
Words of Trust
“I am proud to be a student of this university. The learning facilities, practical training, good library facility, publication of results, career guidance provided by the university are really trustworthy.” – Adrija Tripathy, perusing Ph.D. under DST inspire scheme in Nutrition.
“It was a pleasure that I am a student of Vidyasagar University, which provided me very good learning facilities with modern and sophisticated equipment in addition to different smart campus facilities.” – Soumen Pramanik, a student of M.Sc in physics.
“My experience of studying in this University is very edifying. I repose complete trust on this institution. I recommended all auspicious students and scholars to study here for the best of their career.” – Suparna Majumder, a P.G student in Human Physiology.
