Bethune College's Review and Verdict by CollegeDekho

Campus at a Glimpse

Celebrating its 145th birth anniversary in 2024, Bethune College has its own historical landmarks. It is the first women's college in Asia and India and the first college to create two female graduates of the entire British colonial Empire. Established in 1879, the college has received an A+ grade from NAAC. It is affiliated to the University of Calcutta.

Course-wise, the college has 17 undergraduate departments offering BA, BSc degrees comprising all honors courses except for women studies. Further, it consists of 6 postgraduate courses and offers 3 certificate and diploma courses namely,  Bratachari, Computer Training Programme by WBEIDC Ltd. and Ethics and Value Education. Bethune College admissions are done on the basis of merit.

The college offers numerous facilities to its students such as hostels, a common room, a gym, sports facilities, a library, laboratories, smart classrooms, a book bank, seminar halls and so on. Scholarships are also provided to students based on students performance in the exams. The scholarships available are Chhanda Mitra Memorial Scholarship- merit cum means basis, Kamalabala Mukherjee Memorial Scholarship, Nilmoni Mukherjee Scholarship, Sarala Ghosh Memorial Scholarship and Dr. Kadamibini Ganguly Memorial Award. This is a special award from the family of the first student of the college. 

We understand that there are other aspects that a student must look into before deciding on a college for higher education. We have compiled data from official records along with student reviews on the college and prepared a review and verdict article on Bethune College sharing all the unedited details regarding academics, infrastructure, placements, faculty and many more!

Bethune College Ranking

NIRF: Average Performance! 

Our Take: 

In the NIRF Ranking 2022, Bethune College was the only government college from West Bengal to feature among the first 100 colleges in the country. Bethune College made its place for the first time in the NIRF Ranking with 50th rank in the College category in 2019. Since then, the college has been a known face in the NIRF Ranking. However, the progress has been stagnant in terms of ranks over the years and the college has slipped to 78th poistion in NIRF Ranking 2023. 

Bethune College Academia and Batch Size

Bethune College curriculum and credit framework consists of Discipline Specific Core Course(DSCC), Minor, Ability Enhancement Course(AEC), Skill Enhancement Course(SEC), Practical, Common Value Added Course (CVAC), Inter Disciplinary Course (IDC) and Research/Dissertation. Furthermore, the college has adopted the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for the following postgraduate courses:

• MA English
• MA Bengali 
• MSc Mathematics
• MSc Botany
• MSc Zoology 
• MA/MSc in Applied Psychology 

Academic Composition

Bethune College academia is a mix of classroom learning, assessments, internships and assignments. The university believes in the holistic development of students. In order to achieve this, it follows a blended mode of learning with equal weightage to theoretical and practical knowledge. 

Batch Size

According to the college prospectus for 2023, the intake capacity of the Bethune College courses were as follows:

Bethune College Fees

Here is the list of fees charged by Bethune College:

Our Take:

If we look at the course curriculum, Bethune College has updated numerous course frameworks to provide students with quality education. The batch size for each course is also small indicating that students can receive individual guidance as and when required. The fees that students pay at the time of admission is also reasonable.

After talking to students and browsing through the student reviews available on the online platform, a few points were highlighted. They have voiced that classes get cancelled frequently leading to syllabus not being completed on time. Emphasis is given more on rote learning and given the present industry standards, only those with skills excel!

Bethune College Infrastructure

The 8926 square meter campus of Bethune College has a total of 9 buildings and modern facilities such as smart classrooms, modern seminar halls, accommodation facilities to name a few for students. Here is the list of buildings at the campus:

Classrooms

Bethune College classrooms are available in the Vidyasagar Bhavan, Pritilata Bhavan and Auditorium Building. The college also has a few smart classrooms. One in Vidyasagar Bhavan and a few others in Kadambini Bhavan. The university has a total of 52 classrooms out of which 12 classrooms are 15 ICT enabled, 6 have wifi and LAN connectivity and 6 are smart classrooms. 

Our Take:

Students have expressed that classrooms in Bethune College are smaller in size. They further added that the classrooms can hardly accommodate 40 people. Moreover, the college also needs to increase the number of smart/ICT classrooms in order to keep up with the rapdily changing learning dynamics.  

Auditorium

Bethune College has one auditorium. The auditorium is fully air-conditioned with a seating capacity of 300 people. It is used for organising various cultural and academic activities. 

Seminar Hall

Bethune College has five seminar halls. The seminar halls are used for academic activities. Only one seminar halls has state- of- the- art facilities and has ICT facilities. 

Laboratories

The college has well-equipped 29 laboratories with the latest instruments for the science departments There is a computer laboratory for the students as well with 167 computers. The student-to-computer ratio is 8:23.

Our Take:

Even though the college mentions having well-equipped laboratories, students have opined that maintenance is an issue. The college needs to make sure that the laboratories are maintained as per standards for a seamless practical learning experience. The college also needs to focus on increasing ICT enabled seminar halls. 

Internet

Bethune College campus is wi-fi enabled. It has 24*7 CCTV surveillance for security purposes.

Library

Bethune College has a central library and departmental libraries along with a Book Bank. Bethune College Library is an open-access library and is fully automated with KOHA software and RFID technology. The library has around 1,02,000 volumes of books. There is a reading room that can accommodate up to 50 students. Apart from that, there is the INFLIBNET N-list database for e-books and e-journals and the WBCOLOR database for question papers, syllabus, etc.

Canteen/Hangout Areas

The college has a canteen that is operated by voluntary organisation offering fresh foods at reasonable prices. Junk food is banned in the Bethune College canteen.

Hostels

Students at Bethune College is offered accommodation facilities in 2 hostels- New Girl’s Hostel with 150 seats at Krunamoyee, Salt Lake and Calcutta University Undergraduate Girl’s Hostel. The registration fee is INR 1,000 and the monthly hostel fee including mess charges is INR 5,200.

Sports

Bethune College has a badminton court in the campus, a RUSA-supported fully equipped gymnasium and indoor sports facilities. The indoor sports that students can enjoy in the college are carrom, chess and table tennis.

Our Take:
When it comes to library, Behtune College has done a brrilliant job. But, in terms of accommodation, the college is at the rear end. The number of hostels must be increased. 

Bethune College Internships and Placements

Internships

Bethune College offers compulsory internships to students. Summer internships are offered to students at the end of the 2nd, 4th or 6th semester depending on the courses opted by the students. 

Placements

The following data on Bethune College placements have been retrieved from the NIRF Report 2023:

Our Take:

The data above shows that for the UG 3-year programme a large number of students have preferred to take up higher studies. From the remaining 112 students, only 7 students were placed leaving a lot of scope for improvement in terms of placement. The median salary offered is INR 2,00,000 which is way lower than the market standards. Similar is the case of PG students with only a 2.5% placement rate. Emphasising more on industry connections is necessary in this scenario.

Bethune College Diversity and Demographics

Bethune College- Gender Ratio

Bethune College is a women’s college. Therefore, 100% of the students enrolled in the UG and PG programmes are females.

Bethune College- Student Diversity

Our Take:

Analysing the data above, it is evident that local students prefer this college more than students from outside West Bengal. Such differences in numbers can be justified by the fact that the placement opportunities provided to students are not adequate. Moreover, there are certain areas which need a lot of improvements like the unavailability of adequate smart classrooms, laboratories not maintained properly, etc. Less exposure to the college can be another contributing factor for such a low number of students from outside the state.

Bethune College Faculty and Administration/Management

Faculty

Tabulated below is the data relating to Bethune College faculty retrieved from the college prospectus published in 2023:

Our Take:

Based on the above data, there are a total of 93 faculty. The student-to-faculty ratio stands at 14:1. Even though the student-to-faculty ratio is good, the number of assistant professors is more than permanent faculty. It indicates that with the absence of permanent faculty in most departments like political science, economics, psychology etc the quality of teaching gets compromised. Also, the student's concern about professor absenteeism accelerates the situation to a greater extent.

Administration

Two librarians are assigned to the central library. Currently, there is only one librarian and the other seat is vacant. In 2023, there are a total of 15 office staffs. There is only one post assigned for an accountant and a stenotypist each and both posts remain vacant as of July 2023.

Our Take:

Vacancy in important posts like accountant and stenotypist in colleges can hamper the administration work, especially when there is only one post assigned. Delays in receiving exam updates, certificates and approvals are a few problems that the students encounter in this scenario.

Bethune College Location

Bethune College is situated in 181, Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata.The closest railway station, Howrah Junction Railway Station is at a distance of 4 km from the campus. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is at a distance of 12.6 km from the college. Metro connectivity is good as well. The college is at a distance of a 5-minute walk from Girish Park Metro Railway Station. Other metro stations that are within the range of 1-2 km from the college are Central Metro Station, Sovabazar Sutanuti Metro Station, Shyam Bazar Metro Station, and Mahatma Gandhi Road Metro Station.

Our Take:

Nestled in the heart of North Kolkata opposite Azad Hind Bagh, Bethune College is in a prime location easily accessible by public transport. Students can reach the campus via bus, metro train or rail. 

Bethune College Expectations vs Reality- CollegeDekho Verdict 

Bethune College has a long history since its inception in 1879. The college has created a lot of distinguished personalities that have shaped our country from freedom fighters to writers. Being the first women's college in Asia, the college has emphasised educating women on the formal ground. It has succeeded in doing so, however, with time and advancement in education, the college is lagging in certain aspects, especially in terms of exposure and placement opportunities. Here are few issues that the students have faced in the last few years:

• Teacher absenteeism has been a frequently occurring issue. Students are not assigned any classes when a professor is absent.
• Classrooms are smaller in size making it difficult for students to attend classes
• Students do not receive the required exposure and the placement opportunities available are not adequate.

Final Review Checkbox!