In a pioneering effort, Lady Brabourne College (initially known as the Purdah College) was set up in the pre-independence era with the objective of promoting higher education among Muslim women. Starting its journey with only 35 Muslim girls and 9 faculty members way back in 1939, the College has ver the years grown in stature, and vastly expanded its activities to cater to the myriad demands of a changing society. Affiliated to the University of Calcutta and run by the Government of West Bengal, the College has emerged as a multilingual, multiethnic and multinational institution for students from varied backgrounds. The Institution, which has already left an indelible mark in
the academic world, has recently celebrated 80 glorious years of pursuing the noble mission of women’s education and empowerment.

TEACHING-LEARNING

While the founding faculty of the College mostly belonged to the Humanities stream, Science Courses at the Pass level (later called General and now Generic Elective), were introduced in July 1958. Presently the Institution offers both P.G. and U.G. (Honours) Courses in 10 subjects viz. Bengali, English, Political Science, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Geography, Mathematics, Microbiology, and Zoology; U.G. (Honours) Courses in 9 subjects viz. History, Philosophy, Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian, Hindi, Sociology, Statistics and Economics and only U.G. General Courses in 2 subjects viz. Computer Science and Women’s Studies.

Since 2008, UGC sponsored Remedial Classes are being held in the College for S.C. /S.T. and minority community students. Apart from this, to help students acquire special skills and have wider career options, the College offers several UGC-sponsored Add-on Diploma and Certificate Courses. These are Diploma Courses in Computer Applications and Spanish Language Training, and Certificate Courses in Public Relations & Advertising and Multimedia & Animation. Besides, the College offers a one-year Postgraduate Vocational Course on Food & Drug Safety affiliated to the University of Calcutta and sponsored by the University Grants Commission.

In keeping with the steady growth and expansion of the College, the faculty strength has increased to almost one hundred full-time teachers. There are also a number of State Aided College Teachers (SACT) in the U.G. Departments and several Guest Teachers in the P.G. Departments.

The teaching-learning activities are enhanced by Smart Classrooms, ICT based lectures, Skype sessions, international and national seminars, workshops and symposia, individual/group projects, term papers & dissertations, visits to industries and other professional organisations. Webinars have been regularly organised to supplement online teaching during the Covid 19 pandemic.

RESEARCH

Apart from providing quality teaching, the College consistently encourages research work under the able guidance of experienced faculty. Teachers of Mathematics, Geography, Microbiology, Physics, Zoology, Botany, Political Science, History, English, Bengali and Sanskrit
act as Research Guides to scholars pursuing Ph.D. under different universities. To promote quality research, six Advanced Research Centres of the Departments of English, Bengali, Physics, Mathematics, Microbiology, and Geography have been sanctioned by the University of Calcutta in 2014. Side by side, interdisciplinary research projects like the East Kolkata Wetland Project, and the Sundarban Project have also been taken up by the College. Several members of the faculty have received considerable research funding from various national and state agencies for both Major Research Projects and Minor Research Projects. There are Major Research Projects funded by UGC, DST-SERB, DST State, CSIR, etc.

The College prides itself on a large number of publications of books and journals by its Postgraduate Advanced Research Centres, the Women’s Studies Centre, the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and the various Departments. The publications are peer reviewed and have ISSN and ISBN numbers. Faculty members also publish widely in national and international journals, e-books and e-journals. A number of publications are listed under SCOPUS, SCI, and Google Scholar. Some are authors of books published by renowned publishers.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The College, spread out over 6.1 acres of prime land in the heart of Kolkata, consists of two adjacent campuses. The first houses the Main College Building, the Roma Chaudhuri Memorial Building, the Physics Building, the New Science Building, the Merged Scheme Building, and the Cottage Building. The lush greenery, gardens, open spaces and a playground provide a conducive and congenial environment for academic pursuits. The second campus houses the Hostel building and the Superintendent’s Quarters. A new Hostel building, funded by the UGC in the last phase of the Tenth Plan, now accommodates P.G. and senior U.G. students.

The College and the Hostel campuses have 24×7 CCTV surveillance in order to ensure the security of the students. Moreover, besides the usual guards on duty, additional armed security guards have been deployed. Over the years the infrastructure has been developed and expanded to keep up with the demands of new requirements. The College now boasts of a well-equipped fully automated library equipped with INFLIBNET and a rich collection of over a lakh of books and journals including old and rare documents. For both teachers and students, there are computer facilities with latest softwares, LAN and high-speed internet connectivity. There is an air-conditioned auditorium with 325 seats, a Hostel with a capacity of 259 seats, reprographic centres, a Psychological Counselling Cell, a Medical Unit, a Career Counselling Cell, state-of-the-art gyms n both College and Hostel, yoga classes and self-defence programmes, extensive coverage of College and Hostel by fire extinguishers; there are ramps, gangways and lifts for barrier-free movement, five canteens and two food courts. In order to take care of the special needs f the differently abled, there are special toilet units in both the College and its Hostel and divyangjan-friendly furniture like wheel chairs and special cots in the Hostel.

To maintain an environment-friendly campus the College has been made a plastic-free zone and students are constantly sensitized about clean and green environment through talks, posters, and interactive awareness drives. Moreover, for a pollution-free environment, the Institute
has set up (in collaboration with West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, Govt. of West Bengal), solar panels for campus illumination. The panels have been further extended by utilizing grant received from CPE II. There is moreover, a Rain-water Harvesting Unit, set up with assistance from the State Water Investigation Directorate, for artificial recharge to ground water in the College campus.

The College also maintains various exclusive units like a Butterfly Garden that has been set up in the Hostel campus in order to create awareness about nature conservation; a Plant Fossil Museum; a Tissue Culture Laboratory; a Medicinal Plant Garden in the main campus where
there are nearly seventy plants of immense medicinal importance; and a Sky-gazing Unit.

“Lady Brabourne College thus provides opportunities to its pupils that range from leadership development, public service, career exploration to community engagement. A vibrant space, the College nurtures and instils in its pupils a spirit of commitment, hard work and values alongside their academic pursuits.”

CAMPUS LIFE

A vibrant campus life is enjoyed by the students with various academic and cultural programmes interspersing the scheduled academic curriculum outlined in the Academic Calendar. Seminars/Workshops are arranged regularly by all the Departments where scholars and academicians deliver lectures and interact with the students. Since the Institution aims to ensure a holistic development, a Value Education seminar is organized annually by the IQAC for the benefit of both teachers and students. Moreover, in order to sensitize students and teachers about gender disparity that pervades society, the Women’s Studies Centre engages national and international scholars in gender-related debates, organises awareness and outreach programmes, and works towards women’s empowerment. In order to ensure the physical fitness of the pupils, yoga classes are held once a week and gym facilities are available in both the College and the Hostel. Students can, moreover, avail of the badminton court, play table tennis, indulge in skipping or cycling as well as participate in the selfdefence programmes.

Students participate enthusiastically in various cocurricular and extra-curricular activities. Commendable performances in both intra and inter-college events are recognized and rewarded. Pupils are encouraged to organize, to a great extent on their own, the Annual Inter- College Festival, ‘Kaleidoscope’ — a great platform for developing management skills. The Annual Sports Day is an event marked by healthy competition among students, faculty members, non-teaching staff and the children of employees. The Students’ Council, an apolitical body, is involved in organizing various activities throughout the year as well as in maintaining discipline, cleanliness, and harmony in the campus.

OUTREACH AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

The Institution is also involved in outreach programmes and extension activities. Students have the opportunity to join a unit of the National Service Scheme. The NSS is actively engaged in community service like generating social awareness about environmental issues, female trafficking, drug abuse, etc. A Night School for the children of the adjoining slum area is run by the Hostel boarders as a token of ‘giving back to society’. Lady Brabourne College thus provides opportunities to its pupils that range from leadership development, public service, career exploration to community engagement. A vibrant space, the College nurtures and instils in its pupils a spirit of commitment, hard work and values alongside their academic pursuits.

COMMUNITY SERVICE DURING CORONA PANDEMIC

In view of the growing demand for hand sanitizers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Advanced Research Centre of the Postgraduate Department of Microbiology took the initiative of preparing alcohol-based hand sanitizers in their laboratories following WHO Guidelines. It has been named ‘Anti-microbial Handrub’. On 20th March, 2020, these were distributed among the first line of target beneficiaries, namely, office staff of the College using public transport, police officials of the local Beniapukur Police Station, and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata.

STUDENTS’ WELFARE

The Institution strengthens its teaching-learning efforts with scholarships/endowments from government, non-government and philanthropic resources. The State Government sponsored scholarships include DPI Scholarship, JBNSTS (Jagadish Bose National Science Talent Search), Kanyashree Prakalpa, and Swami Vivekananda Merit cum Means Scholarship. The Central Government sponsored scholarships are INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research), Indira Gandhi Single Girl Child Scholarship, Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students, and Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities. Scholarships from private organizations are provided by the Sheela Kanoria/Sambhava Foundation and Sitaram Jindal Scholarship schemes. Additionally, a Students’ Welfare Fund of the College is utilized to provide financial assistance to needy students, and the Principal’s Welfare Fund (constituted by the voluntary contribution of teachers) provide financial assistance to such students towards paying their tuition fees, Hostel fees and for medical expenses. Moreover, the College has begun the ‘Lunch Box’ Scheme, whereby cooked nutritious lunch is served free of cost on full working days of the week to the economically challenged students. Over 100 students benefit from this Scheme which is sponsored by the teachers of the College.

GRADUATION AND THEREAFTER

The academic brilliance of the Institution is reflected in the number of rank-holders in the University examinations, high pass percentage of over 90, students’ progression to higher education in reputed national/ international institutes, students qualifying NET, SET, GATE, GRE each year, and placements in reputed Indian / foreign institutes and universities (IITs, TIFR, IISERs, DU, JNU, University of Cologne, University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, West Carolina University, to name a few), State and Central Administrative Services, banking sector, and MNCs including IT sectors. Some have become successful entrepreneurs. Not surprising, therefore, that the rich alumnae include scientists, scholars, corporate leaders, civil servants, authors, creative artists, and performing artists. The success and professional achievements of Brabournites, across the globe, bear testimony to the realization of the cherished goal of Lady Brabourne College: the all-round development of its pupils in particular and the empowerment of women in general.

The College is known for its high standards of discipline, for the secular outlook it imparts and also for the apolitical ambience that it maintains. Warm relationships shared by the faculty and students add to the general richness of the academic environment.

Lady Brabourne College remains an Institution committed to providing ‘true’ education to generations of women aspiring to make a difference in the world. It is a place not only for learning but for discovery, innovation, expression and discourse. Adhering to the core values
of dedication, hard work, excellence, and freedom from discrimination, one finds a balanced and healthy mix of tradition and modernity in the ethos of the Institute.