Vidyasagar College for Women

Introduction
Vidyasagar College for Women received NAAC accreditation on the 10th of March, 2012. The NAAC Peer Team which had visited the College for purposes of assessment in December 2011 had recommended the establishment of a Centre for Studies named after the founder of the College, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.

It was decided at a brainstorming session of the Mentor Group that the Centre would be named Vidyasagar Research Centre for Studies in Education and Society.

Composition
The Mentor Group of the Vidyasagar Research Centre for Studies in Education and Society are :

Prof. Shibranjan Chatterjee (President, VRC)

Sri Debashis Mallick (G.B. President, VCFW)

Sm. Nabanita Chatterjee (GB Member& IQAC member, VCFW)

Dr. Asutosh Prasad Singh (Convener)

Dr. Rapti Dev( Jt. Convener)

Dr. Tapan Roy (Treasurer)

Dr. Ajanta Mitra

Dr. Madhumita Dutta

Dr. Maitrayee Basu Roy

Dr. Amit Mohan Rakshit

Sm Moumita Ash

Dr. Prathama Ray Mandal

Dr. Pranab Chatterjee (External Member)

The main Objectives/ Goals of the Centre
The Centre’s main mission will be to provide a congenial atmosphere for academics in the humanities and social sciences to pursue short-term research projects that will enhance the current state of knowledge in the selected area of study. Priority will be accorded to applicants seeking to conduct research centering around the social and cultural history of 19th-century Bengal. Other thrust areas of research will include gender–based social and economic analysis; studies in the fields of education and pedagogy; environmental and development studies; studies on nationalist thought; and reassessments of the nineteenth-century Bengal Renaissance. Alongside these, analytical interest in contemporary economic and political issues and institutions will be encouraged.

The Centre will aim to provide a research fund to internal/ external scholars. Funding will be offered for short–term fellowships (3–4 months) on topics related to the abovementioned themes for scholars in any discipline of the social sciences, humanities, or a related field.
The Centre will seek to build a research network linking scholars, researchers, teachers, students and practitioners in diverse fields of specialisation in the social sciences, emphasising inter–disciplinary scholarship.
The Centre will sponsor national/ international Seminars/ Conferences inviting scholars working in related areas in other institutions to deliver lectures.
The Centre will house a library consisting of Vidyasagar-related literature and literature centred around 19th century Bengal and will provide access to online journals and publications as well.
The Centre will eventually aim to build a digital archive, that is, an archive of films and documentaries mainly on 19th century Bengal and the Bengal Renaissance.

Activities of VRCSES

Publication of a Special Issue- an edited anthology of Subhakari (ISBN: 978-81-942129-6-6). Click to view

Gallery of VRCSES

Inauguration of Iswarchandra Bi-Centenary Memorial Conference Hall at VRCSES- 2019

The first meeting of Vidyasagar Research Centre on August 29, 2015 at Vidyasagar Smriti Mandir:

VRC Inaugural Seminar
On 28.7.16, the Auditorium in New Building was inaugurated by MLA Smt. Smita Bakshi. The inaugural event of Vidyasagar Research Centre for Studies in Education and Society was held on the same occasion in the new Bhagabati Devi Sabhaghar, with a seminar by three eminent speakers: Dr Barun Kumar Chakraborty, Emeritus Professor of Bengali, Rabindra Bharati University; Dr Prashanta Bannerjee, grandson of Pt Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and a distinguished homoeopath practitioner and Dr Jayanta Mitra, Department of English, Harimohan Ghosh College. The seminar was held on the topic of ‘Anubhabe, Anudhyane Vidyasagar’.