Student and Campus Life at The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata.

BA Sociology Honours at The Bhawanipur Education Society College is a very helpful curriculum. This curriculum will help students gain knowledge about the society we all live in by analysing every sector of the society like economy, politics, family and kinship, marriage, psychology, gender, demography, environment, development and so on. This curriculum will surely equip students with research and analytical skills. This curriculum makes it compulsory for students to conduct a lengthy research (dissertation) which is to be graded and submitted for the final semester of the final year. The students are given the freedom to choose their research topics and work with the support and guidance of their respective research mentors. Overall this course is very helpful for the ones aiming to acquire employment in the academic field or research field or policy making field, it also helpful for UPSC aspirants.

Well known companies like Deloitte, Axis Bank, Indigo Airlines, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Accenture, and lesser known companies also provide internships to students. Mainly Commerce and Business students get very good placements especially at Tata Consultancy Services and Deloitte with a great payscale of 4 LPA. For internships an average stipend of 15,000 is given to students. Overall placements and internships are mainly aimed at Business and Commerce students.

Placement drives take place in Bhawanipur Education Society College very often and 4th, 5th and 6th semester students are eligible to apply for these placement drives. Companies like Deloitte, Axis Bank, Indigo Airlines, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services, visit the campus for placements. The highest salary package is around 14 LPA and an average salary package of 5 LPA is offered. Around 50% of students have been placed in various companies. I have completed my graduation from this college with BA Sociology Honours, and I have planned to acquire employment in the academic and research field, hence I will do MA Sociology and then get a Phd in Sociology.

The Bhawanipur Education Society College is located in Kolkata and is affiliated to University of Calcutta. The fee structure is subjective to changes as per the course. Generally the fee is to be paid semester wise, so the institution requests their students to pay the semester fee around mid semester. I pursued BA Sociology Hons (3years), so I had to pay around ?24,000 per semester, hence per year it can range from ?48,000 - ?50,000. For admission, the college requests for the candidates to pay admission fees (including security deposit) as well as semester 1 fees together (can cost around ?64,000 all together) As far as scholarship is concerned, yes the college does offer scholarship, but there are criterias to be met to be eligible for the scholarship. Scholarship is only applicable to the students whose aggregate % of Best of 5 subjects in class 12 Board result is 90% and above (applicable to all boards). 200 students are selected for the scholarship and only semester 1 students are eligible to apply for the scholarship. Once selected, their semester 1 fees will be refunded and from semester 2 onwards, they will have to pay only 30% of the full fees.

The Bhawanipur Education Society College organises a 4 days annual event called 'Umang' every year in the month of December. It is a grand event where various competitions are held for students to participate in and many renowned artists are invited to the event as special guests. Business events like Nexus and Career Cafe are held in the month of October. 'Dhamaal' is also a very vibrant and jovial event held in the month of October which aims at different cultural displays. It is a united celebration of various cultures and traditions in form of dances, music and songs. All kinds of festivals are held in this college in their respective months, like, Diwali, Holi, Saraswati Puja, Kali Puja, Durga Puja, special days like Independence Day and Republic Day, and so on. BESC is equipped with a phenomenal book library which offers books, journals, magazines and Educational CDs for students. There are computers in the library for students to work in with wifi availability. Students can keep books and CDs with themselves for a certain period. Every classroom has air conditioners, smart boards, many lights and fans for a comfortable environment for the students. Classrooms are very spacious with well maintained benches and desks. BESC is very focused on sports and extra-curricular activities. The college campus has a separate sports arena for students which includes table tennis, pool, carrom, darts, chess and many more. There are many clubs students can join, like music, dance, theatre, art, nss (national service scheme), and many more. Many outreach programs are organised by the students and teachers for social welfare. Overall, the Bhawanipur Education Society College is highly active in terms of Events, sports, knowledge development, skill development programs and talent expression of students.

After completion of class 12, other than Bhawanipur Education Society College I had applied for a few other colleges as well like, Lady Brabourne College, Bethune College, Shri Shikshayatan College, Gokhale Memorial Girl's College, Loreto College and St. Xavier's College. Some of these colleges had Sociology as an Honours course and some did not, the colleges that did not have Sociology Honours I still applied to those college for other subjects like English, History and Political Science, but my first preference was Sociology. I had got confirmed admission in Bethune, Gokhale and Loreto college, but these colleges did not have Sociology, but I had also got confirmed admission in Bhawanipur Education Society College and this college had Sociology, hence I opted for this college over the others. The admission process to Bhawanipur Education Society College was very straightforward and simple. A form needs to be filled in and certain other formalities needs to be met (payment of fees). The eligibility for my course (BA Sociology Honours) was a requirement of 50% and above in class 12 boards result. No admission test was conducted.

The Bhawanipur Education Society College has excellent faculties and the students have really good relationships with their faculties. The teachers are very experienced, knowledgeable and approachable. BESC is known for its Commerce and Science department. For me, I consider the Sociology, English and Journalism department to be the best departments overall. The teachers of these departments are very approachable, supportive and friendly. They are very flexible and cooperative. BESC is affiliated to Calcutta University, hence it is the University that decides the exam dates. The college conducts CIA (Continuous Internal Assessment) before University conducts internal examination and end-semester examination. The teachers help out a lot for the preparation of every exam.

There are many hangout spots and eateries in the college area (Bhawanipur). In fact it is a very socially active area. There is a shopping mall called 'Forum' right beside the college, there are many cafes in the area like Piccadilly Square, Black Brick Cafe, Marbella's and so on, there are many affordable food stalls opposite the college, there is a public park near the college. The locality is very safe and is full of people almost all the time. The college does not have its own hostel but there are many PGs in the area (very affordable).The college campus timings range from 9am to 6pm.