Review of an Alumnus: Maulana Azad College

The college management is well structured and responsive. The college library is very good, updated and do contain some very ancient manuscripts. But certain areas need modifications that include the college office.

The course curriculum is currently the widely accepted Choice Based Credit System or CBCS in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels (yes, this department in particular has postgraduate section besides the Departments of English and Urdu). Hence examinations are held in the form of end semesters twice an academic year. It is definitely a topic of academic debate whether the CBCS structure is beneficial compared to the Annual examination or Part I+II+III system followed during our time. Anyway, the CBCS system is convenient in the sense that most of the institutions around India (as well as the world) now follow this semester based or CBCS pattern of examination. The positive side is that it gives the student unconventional opportunities to opt for topics that are extracurricular and quite interdisciplinary compared to the core mother subject. This might help in research in the long run. My course in specific is a research oriented or academic field. Hence the aim is to prepare us for further studies and not to indulge immediately in jobs right after graduation. This course prepared me to well to appear in major all India level postgraduate entrance examinations. I did have some mention worthey achievements that include securing All India 39th rank in IIT JAM (Biological sciences) paper, AIR 5 in BHU postgraduate entrance test (Zoology), selection in NIT Rourkela (Department of Life Sciences) and getting final admission call from IISER Kolkata (Department of Biological sciences) for an integrated PhD course.

My course is an academic course and hence the focus is on further studies and research instead of corporate jobs. The department renders sufficient encouragement to appear in All India level examinations like: 1) IIT JAM 2) TIFR JGEEBILS 3) Wildlife Institute of India entrance exam 4) IIT GATE 5) CSIR NET 6) ICMR NET 7) DBT NET 8) West Bengal SET It must be mentioned that out of these examinations, the CSIR NET, IIT GATE, West Bengal SET, etc do serve as gateway for recruitment as full-time Assistant Professors in various Government or aided or private Colleges/Universities all over India, including West Bengal. It must also be mentioned that every year, a considerable fraction of the course strength qualifies one or more than one of the above examinations and besides further studies and research get the chance to be recruited as Government/Private sector employees. Additionally, this department is one among the very few departments all over India that is part of the Department of Biotechnology (Government of India) star college scheme. Under this scheme, we got exposure to scientific research work in our Undergraduate level which definitely boosted our interest in pursuing research as a career in the future.

The college is quite instrumental in holding festivals of all religious communities and encourages a harmonious relationship amongst its students and staff. There are annual sports meet, fashion show, debate and innumerable seminars (both national and international) going on throughout the year.

This is a Public institution under the Government of West Bengal and fee is quite less compared to other aided or private institutions offering the same course. The academic fee is generally taken semester wise and has to be submitted in the College office located within the campus. Till now, this is an offline process. There is ofcourse an admission fee which is quite feasible. In any transaction, the academic fee does not cross 2000 INR and the fee breakup is extremely detailed in the fee receipt.

Yes, the college offers a lot of scholarships to minority community students, students coming from below poverty line and economically weaker sections of the society. Personally I had not opted for any. But the Head of the Department (HOD)/ office of the concerned department is quite helpful in guiding a student in this matter.

Campus life is quite vibrant since the college is located in the heart of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal. It is just a 20 minutes walk from the Esplanade metro station that renders access to almost every corner of the metropolitan. Gender ratio in my department was around Male: Female = 2:1 but this varies greatly amongst batches and in the postgraduate level, the ratio generally turns opposite with near about double or triple female students enrolled compared to enrolled male students. In the context of diversity, there are representatives of both Bengali and Hindi speaking communities of Bengal and members of different religion like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc.

Yes, there is a dedicated alumni association of the college that runs through their website. The seniors are quite helpful in guiding the junior students who are willing to pursue higher studies and research.

I got admission in the undergraduate B. Sc. Honours course in the department of Zoology of Maulana Azad College through my +2 aggregate marks based merit list. I got above 90% marks in the aggregate of +2 subjects and the criterion was that a student having studied the relevant subject and securing an aggregate of atleast 60% can apply. A merit list was prepared, published on the official website of the college and a series of counseling rounds were organised through which students were inducted in the course. I passed +2 in May, 2016 and got admission in Maulana Azad College on 28th of July, 2016, in the second round of counseling. Biological science was my subject of choice since Elementary school and it was my dream to study in the best Zoology department under the University of Calcutta. Moreover this is a completely Government of West Bengal funded institution.

The teachers of my department held rank as follows (Almost all of them having completed PhD or in the final phase of getting PhD degree award) Professor (Head of the Department) : 1 Associate Professor : 2 Assistant Professor : 7 They are diversely qualified in laboratory as well as field based research. They are extremely efficient academicians and do possess significant position in key bodies of the University of Calcutta.