About Us
A Jesuit Institution
North Bengal St. Xavier’s College is a Christian Minority Institution established in 2007 by the Darjeeling Jesuits of North Bengal with permanent affiliation to the University of North Bengal. Just like St. Joseph’s College, North Point, Darjeeling, and Loyola College of Education, Namchi (Sikkim), it is governed and managed by the Jesuits of Darjeeling Province. The college is recognized with 2(f) and 12(b) under the University Grant Commission (UGC) and this year preparation is underway for its first National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) appraisal.
The college offers Undergraduate Courses in Arts, Science, and Commerce. The professional course available are Bachelor’s in Computer Application (BCA) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). It also offers UGC-affiliated career-oriented courses. The medium of instruction in the college is English. Students coming from vernacular medium institutions are encouraged to attend Special English Language classes offered by the college.
The college, being a part of the Jesuit higher education system, keeps its door open for all sections of the society and provides financial assistance to the needy students, irrespective of caste and creed. Since its inception in 2007, the college emphasizes and encourages the students to continuously strive for excellence in every field and to become agents of needed social change in society.
Our insistence on class attendance, the importance given to weekly tests, sports and cultural festivals, departmental seminars and projects, outreach programs in the surrounding villages and tea gardens, career-oriented programmes, counselling and career guidance, constant communication and dialogue with the parents are deliberately designed aspects of our Xaverian system of education.
North Bengal St. Xavier’s College aims at making its contribution towards a transformation of the present-day social condition so that principles of social justice, equality of opportunities, genuine freedom, respect for moral and religious values, enshrined in the Constitutions of India, may prevail, and the possibility of living a fully human life may be open before all.
St. Francis Xavier
Darjeeling Jesuits, members of the Society of Jesus, took the initiative to establish three University Colleges in North Bengal and Sikkim. St. Joseph’s College at North Point, Darjeeling, was established in 1927. Loyola College of Education in Namchi, Sikkim, came into existence in 1993, as the Jesuit contribution to the people of Sikkim. North Bengal St. Xavier’s College at Rajganj was established in 2007, modeled after the famous St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, which traces its origin to 1860. Here we may also note that the Jesuits were invited by the Royal Government of Bhutan in early 1970s to pioneer modern education in Bhutan, and after helping the Bhutan Government to establish a network of Residential Schools our efforts culminated in the establishment of the very first college of Bhutan – Sherubtse College in Kanglung near Tashiganj. Recently all the Jesuits involved in the Colleges in Darjeeling Jesuits Province came together to review our efforts to evolve a common Statement of Vision.
While reviewing the quality of our educational efforts a consensus emerged that there is a perceptible qualitative difference among most of the graduates of our colleges. Empirically this difference may be seen in the following aspects: their overall excellence in academics, social commitment, leadership qualities, and professional lives; their employability, because our graduates tend to be preferred by the employers; their growth in maturity; and their sense of belonging and loyalty to their alma mater.
It was agreed that such qualitative, positive difference is largely because of our efforts to combine academic excellence with various co-curricular activities as an essential part of our system, the culture of our campuses where trust, respect and collaboration are actively fostered at all levels, and the atmosphere of our campuses where close interaction among the administration, staff and students are predominant.
History
The Jesuit tradition of education in India began in 1542 when St. Francis Xavier, one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Organisation), reached Goa. Today the Jesuits in India have more than 295 High Schools, 63 colleges, 15 Management Institutes, 22 Technical Institutes and 2 universities which engage approximately 11,225 teachers educating more than 3,24,500 students in India belonging to every social class, community and linguistic group.
Some of the well-known Jesuit Institutions of higher education in India are Loyola College (Chennai), St. Xavier’s College (Kolkata), St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai), St. Xavier’s College (Ranchi), St. Xavier’s College (Ahmedabad), Loyola College (Vijayawada), St. Joseph’s College (Tiruchirapally), St. Joseph’s College (Bangalore), St. Joseph’s College (Darjeeling), etc., apart from two universities: St. Xavier’s University (Kolkata) and Xavier University (Bhubaneswar).
Although the Jesuits in India run some well-known B-Schools (e.g. XLRI-Jamshedpur, XIM Bhubaneshwar, LIBA-Chennai, etc) and in recent years have also opened one Law College (Bengaluru) and one Engineering College (Chennai), the ultimate goal of all these institutions has been the all-round development of their students. Such students, after having graduated from any Jesuit institution, are called upon to become a support system for others, especially for the underprivileged and marginalized sections of the society.
It was long since the Christian community in particular and people of the North Bengal plains in general had felt the need for a Christian institution of higher learning. There had been many delegations in the past, requesting the Jesuit Provincials of Darjeeling Jesuit Province (comprising the five current northern-most districts of West Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Mizoram) for the establishment of a Degree College that would not just cater to the North Bengal plains but also to the Hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim as well as the bordering states of Assam, Bihar and neighboring countries such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and beyond. After much deliberations, followed by scouting for land large enough to give space for future expansion and development, the then Jesuit Provincial Fr. Cherian Padiyara, SJ (who would become the founder Principal of the college) with assistance from others, identified a large tract of unutilized land in a far-flung and obscure place, located in proximity to Koitowa. River, with only advantage being its location between the two fast growing urban centres of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri along the National Highway. Without much hesitation and ado, that land was purchased from the owners. It was the year 1997!
But due to various reasons, one being the paucity of fund, besides many legal and land-related complications and other procedural snag, start of the college kept getting delayed further. The tenants and former landowners who had sold off the land too were frustrated to the point of reclaiming the land and restarting agricultural practices. Hence, in order to utilize the space, some tea. bushes were planted which stand even to this day. Ultimately, a huge push was given under Fr. Peter Pappu, the then Jesuit Provincial, and kick starting some urgent works simultaneously: paper work for permission to start a new college and its recognition from the ministry of WB Higher Education, University of North Bengal (NBU) and UGC on one hand, and the construction at the present site on the other hand.
Despite racing against time to complete the structure for accommodating the first batch, it was not to be. And hence, in July 2007, the first academic session at the corridors of the new college kicked off at a makeshift house in Matigara, adjacent to Jesu Ashram. But it happened only after receiving an undertaking by parents that the students would be shifting to the new site at Balaigachh village under Rajganj Block of Jalpaiguri District from the following year. The first batch had 150 students pursuing B.A. (Honours) in English, History and Sociology, and B.Com (Honours) in Accountancy and Management besides General in B.A/B.Com. In an interesting turn of events, even before the college started, the hunt began looking for a suitable name. It was unanimously resolved that it had to be ‘St Xavier’s College’, as a commoner part to its much older and illustrious St. Xavier’s, Kolkata. Thus, North Bengal St. Xavier’s College came into existence.
From June 2008, as planned, the college with its faculty and second batch of students shifted to the new building while the new batches started getting enrolled and the college embarked on a chartered path that has now crossed 12 years of its journey with ten batches already having graduated.
