Besu rides high on V-C's vision

Updated on: Friday, December 18, 2009

Kolkata: Bengal Engineering Science University (BESU) is set to improve.

The prestigious campus, which had lately been in the news for student unrest and ragging, has found a saviour in its vice-chancellor, Ajay Kumar Roy.

Roy assumed office in February this year. Since then, there has been no looking back.

After taking over, Roy has laid special emphasis on uniting students. “It was the first thing on my mind when I took over during troubled times. Today, I feel proud to see t h at none of the students indulges in any anti-social activities, which was earlier rampant. There is no more ragging, for instance” he said.

Roy believes that academic rigour is most important and created an academic calendar that was implemented. This calendar mentions dates for examinations and specifies when results will be published.

Changes were introduced in the examination system.

“Now, the students can check their answer scripts. A semester system has been implemented, a continuous evaluation process started and open-book system of exams introduced. It has become mandatory for students to take part in seminars and discussions, which are also counted among examinations,” said Roy.

One of the mottos which the V-C, along with all his teachers have taken is to provide complete support to students.

“A centre for creative expressions and liberal arts has started. The students are involved in dramatics, photography and music. A film society and ones on debating, quizzing and creative writing have been created,” said a senior teacher of Besu’s architecture department.

Next on the agenda was a sports calendar and cultural calendar for inter-college competitions. Besu will hold an inter-college sports competition in January. Gardening and cleanliness competitions will be held, in which the seven hostels will compete with each other.

The hands-on V-C even started making unannounced visits to the hostels to keep tabs on daily proceedings. Roy’s efforts resulted in the alumni association joining hands with him to bring more funds for infrastructure development and renovation of Besu.

The campus hospital is being renovated and a centralised internal security system is being beefed up from the funds.

“He tried collecting funds from several channels and united everyone. Most importantly, the students realised that violence on campus was ruining their future, with many companies refusing to recruit from the university. The MHRD had put the process of upgrading the university to Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST) status on the backburner, which is now being revived,” added Anjan Ghosh, dean of students.

Students are unanimous about the fruition of the V-C’s vision. “He has a dream and he ensured that we share that same dream. He is a very focused person and knows what steps are to be taken to achieve IIEST status. He has prompted us to channel our thoughts in more creative directions,” said Noel Roychowdhury, a first-year IT student.

Ishaani Banerjee, a first-year civil engineering department student, said: “Before joining, I was apprehensive about ragging on campus. But the reality was quite different. We were under complete protection of the authorities,” she said.

Besu rides high on V-C's vision

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