Department of Philosophy  

“  Philosophy is a hypothetical interpretation of the unknown (as in Metaphysics), or of the inexactly known (as in Ethics or in Political Philosophy); it is the front trench in the siege of truth.” Will Durant

Uluberia College Department of Philosophy started its journey in the year 1958 just 10 years after the establishment of the College.The department was first started as a General subject and it started as an Honours subject in the year 1976.

Vision and Mission of the Department

Our vision is to inspire our students to be true human beings and to dedicate their lives in the search for truth.

Our mission is to teach our students think logically, to have an exposure to the great philosophical thoughts of East and West and to develop in them rational and ethical qualities.

Number of Teaching posts in the department:

Student-Teacher Ratio (programme wise):   1:50 (approx) Honours, 1:200 (approx) General.

Activities of the Department:

A.

1.       Assessment through class tests and tutorials are done regularly.

2.       Remedial classes are arranged every year for the academically backward  students.

3.       Special classes are arranged for the students who are unable to attend classes  regularly for economic reasons.

4.       Special guidance is given to the extra ordinary students.

5.       Guardian meetings are being held twice in every academic year.

6.       Student counseling are made regularly by the departmental teachers.

7.       Department organizes Quiz contest and Debate competition on regular basis.

8.       Wall Magazines are published to encourage the creative power of the  students.

B.    Seminars Organized:

               1. National seminar: Department organized U.G.C Sponsored National Seminar on Swami Vivekananda on 15th & 16th March 2013 in collaboration with Purashkanpur                    Mahavidyalaya, Howrah.

             2. State level Seminar:  Department organized a State Level Seminar on 'Relevance of Buddhist Teaching in Today's World' in collaboration with ICPR Centre  for Buddhist Studies, Jadavpur University on 27.03.2018.

3. Departmental Seminar: Departmental seminars are organized every year by inviting Eminent Academicians and interactive sessions are held for the benefit of the students.

i. Departmental Seminar on 'Jatiyatavadi Vivekananda' on 26.09.2015, Speaker: Sri Tarun Goswami, City Editor, The Statesman.

ii. Departmental Seminar on 'Nyaya Theorynof Negation' on 15.12.2015; Speaker: Dr. Joy Bhattacharya, Senior Lecturer in Indology & IUHU courses, R.K.M. Institute, Kolkata.

iii .Departmental Seminar on 'Nivedita and National Awakening'; Speaker: Sri Tarun Goswami, City Editor, The Statesman.

iv. Special Class on 'Western Logic' on 28.03.2017; Speaker: Sm. Sravanti Bhowmik, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Surendranath College for Women.

iv. Special Class on 'Western Logic' on  20.03.2018; Speaker: Sm. Sujata Dhar, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Kanailal Bhattacharya College, Ramtala.

4. Student seminar: Every year student seminars are organized and seminar papers are published to encourage the students.

           C.  The Faculty members of the department are involved in several other activities of the College:

1.     Dr. Aditi Bhattacharya is the Coordinator of IQAC.

2.     She acts as the Convener of the Routine Committee.

3.     Dr. Bhattacharya is also the Editor of the College Academic Journal.

4.     Sm. Mousumi Majumdar is the Convener of KARATE which has been introduced in our college since December 2013.

3.     The department acted as the Zonal Centre of the B.A. Part 1 Exam under Calcutta University in 2009, 2010, 2014 & 2015. All the departmental teachers were involved in this  activity. 

4.      The department acted as the Zonal Centre of the B.A. Part 111 Exam under Calcutta University in 20017 and 2018.

5.     At several times the Department acted as the Coordinator of different College Examinations. 

6.     Dr. Bhattacharya acted as the G.B member from 2009 to April 2015.

7..    Department takes active role in organizing  Yoga Classes under ‘Art of Living Course”.

Activities of the Students of the Department:

A. Academic performances:

1. A consistent success rate of 92% and above has been on the records for the past five years.
2. Every year our students get 1st class in University examinations.
3. In the year 2015 Sri Suman Manna stood 1st Class 1st and Litha Bhattacharya stood 1st Class 2nd in the Final Examinations among all the Candidates under Calcutta University.
4. Every year at least 60% of our students join in different Universities for their post graduate studies where they performed well.
5. Our students are well placed in several Academic Institutions like secondary and Higher secondary Schools as well as in Colleges. In 2016 Sri Kalyan Mondal qualified in CSC and joined in a College under Vidyasagar University. In 2017 Tabasum Akhtar qualified in CSC and joined in a College in Howrah District.
6. Some of our students are engaged in Research Activities under C.U & R.U.

B. Extra-Curricular activities:

1. Our students participate in different social activities under College NSS wing.
2. Some of our students have taken part in District KARATE Competitions and came out with flying colours.
2. They organize Departmental Re-Union and Picnic.

Strength:

The strength of the Department lies in good relation between the teachers and the students of the Department. Most of the students are very sincere and obliging . They are also very much cooperative.

Weakness:

Most of the students do not have any good exposure in English so they cannot go through the good reference books of Western Philosophy, Psychology etc by themselves and sometimes they face problems in their Post Graduate Course. We try our best to help them in this sphere but we fear that we are not very successful in our attempt as we have not sufficient time to train them.

Opportunities:

It is true that the job opportunities for our students are very limited, but now-a-days demand for the students of Philosophy is increasing. Especially there is ample scope in the sphere of management.

Challenges:

In the present scenario where the society is becoming more and more materialistic it is really a challenge to teach philosophy. We are trying our best to teach them by linking the subject with the problems which they usually face in their lives so that the subject can be made interesting for them.

Future Plan:

At present we have no project in our department. Actually for a pretty long period there was only one full-time teacher in our Department so we could not apply for a project. We have planned to apply for a project as early as possible. We want to involve our students with this project. We also want to develop our Departmental library which is at present run by our students and faculty members.