History

Year of Establishment : 1922

History of the department : From its inception in 1922, the Department of Commerce, University of Calcutta has traversed a long way. The Department takes pride in its commendable performance vis-à-vis major developmental indicators such as student intake, number of teachers, published research work, updated curricula and courseware. Almost from the very beginning, the Department has been utilizing the services of a number of guest faculty members drawn from both academic institutions and industrial organizations of repute. At present, it has 22 whole time teachers and 28 guest faculty members. Most of the distinguished faculty members have doctoral degrees and are members of various professional institutions.

The Department, in keeping with the advances made in different branches of commerce, has revised the curriculum from time to time. T he last revision of curriculum has taken place very recently in August 2011. Under the new curriculum, the Department has upgraded to the system of semester-based teaching. Currently, M. Com. course run by the Department both in the Day and in the Evening Sections, offers 20 papers of 50 marks, divided equally in two academic sessions, namely, Part I and Part II. For the first time, in accordance with the requirements of semester-based teaching, each 50 mark paper will be assessed in stages: 10 marks through Internal Assessment, and 40 marks, subsequently, through written end-of-session examinations.

The Department started its 2-year M. Phil curriculum in 1988, and currently it follows the New M.Phil. Regulations laid down by the University Grants Commission in 2009. One of the greatest strengths of the Department is its Ph.D. programme. It is a matter of pride to note that a large number of researchers have been awarded Ph.D. degrees in significant areas of business-related research including accounting, finance, management and economics. At present, the Ph.D. programme is being conducted under the New UGC Regulations. More than 100 research scholars are pursuing their doctoral research work under the guidance of registered research supervisors, including, inter alia, many of the distinguished members of the faculty.

The Department publishes a bi-annual journal, Business Studies (ISSN 0970-9657), which features research-based contributions from reputed members of the academia from across the country. Recently, the 34th volume of the Departmental journal has been published. Academic performance, including research and teaching, of Departmental faculty members has earned pan-Indian recognition, as evidenced by the UGCs sanction of Special Assistance Programme by the University Grants Commission since 1987, under Departmental Special Assistance (DSA) Programme Phase I, II and III.

A number of research volumes have been published by the Department under the three phases of the Departmental Special Assistance Programme. National Seminars and Conferences on contemporary issues, too, have been held periodically every year since 1987. In early 2005, the Departments contribution to academic research activities was recognized once again by the University Grants Commission when it was granted Assistance for Infrastructural support in Humanities and Social Sciences [ASIHSS], an Infrastructure Development Programme, sponsored. This is a unique distinction conferred to only a few SAP-qualified University departments all over India, based on their academic excellence. The UGC-sponsored ASIHSS programme has also been completed very successfully in the year 2009-10.

Appreciating the need of the hour for a Masters Degree in Finance, the Department has embarked on a two-year full-time self-financed MBA Course in Finance, consisting of four semesters. Classes for the first semester of the course commenced on and from 26th September 2005. Presently, the tenth (Batch of 2014-16) and eleventh (Batch of 2015-17) batches are in the fourth and second semester stages, respectively

Teaching support :

• Our faculty members regularly resort to innovative approaches like using LCD projectors etc while teaching in the classrooms. The department also has a well equipped computer room with sufficient number of computers for the students and research scholars.
• Additionally, Department also subscribes Databases like CMIE-Prowess or Capitaline to help faculty members and scholars in their research.

Major activities :

• Department regularly arranges campus placement programmes for the students of M.Com to place them in the industry. Some of the well known recruiters include Aditya Birla Group, Tata Motors, TCS, Genpact, SRMB Steel, DUCKBACK, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
• Department also arranges campus placement programmes for the students of MBA in Finance course. Some of the well known recruiters include Axis Bank, Bank of Baoda, K & A Securities, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, NICCO Corporations Ltd, Bandhan Microfinance, Reliance Industries Ltd, SENBO Ltd, Simplex Infrastructures, Zacks Research Pvt. Ltd, Bank of India, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Corporation Bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank
• In addition to this, Calcutta University and Calcutta Stock Exchange Centre for Excellence in Financial Markets has been organizing seminars and workshops on regular basis on topics like Capital Market, Financial Inclusiveness and Ethics in Financial Market etc in collaboration with different academic institutions. Since its inception in 2012, it has so far organized 20 seminars, 3 International Conferences and 2 Special Lectures.
• The Centre also conducts a one week certificate course on Financial Market (Basic). So far 16 batches of students have successfully completed the certification programme.

Contact

Campus : College Street

Address for communication : 87/1, College Street Kolkata - 700 073.