On behalf of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata (SXUK), I extend my best wishes to the faculty, staff, students, parents, alimni/ae and well-wishers.

This year, we celebrated the 8th Foundation Day of the University on 10th February, 2024. Having started in 2017, we have overcome many challenges in the past few years and are growing steadily in terms of teaching and learning, research and publications.

Presently, a total of 3477 students are on roll in the university. There are 126 research scholars who are pursuing their Ph.D. in different disciplines. We believe that in the near future, SXUK will emerge as a leading higher education institution in India. As per ‘SXUK Vision 2030’, the university expects to have 10,000 students on its rolls in the next few years.

The University celebrated the 5th Convocation Ceremony on 6th February, 2024 at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, New Town. Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, former Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary General for “Sustainable Energy for All” was the Chief Guest. He was conferred with the title of Honorary Global Ambassador for Peace for St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata.

I am proud to announce that in this convocation, 889 students were awarded their degree qualifying certificates. There were 37 medal recipients who were awarded with gold, silver and bronze medals. The first Ph.D. degree of the university was also awarded in this convocation to a research scholar from the Faculty of Commerce and Management.

We conferred the Doctor of Science (D.Sc, Honoris Causa) on Rev. Dr. S. Ignacimuthu, S.J., a noted Bio-scientist, and the Doctor of Law (LL.D, Honoris Causa) on Mr. R N Jhunjhunwala, a renowned jurist and Attorney-at-Law.

From the current session 2023-24, we have introduced the 4-year undergraduate programme w.e.f. July 2023 following the NEP 2020 and SEP 2023 guidelines. This has been done keeping in mind the emerging trends in global education. We have received a positive response from our faculty members and students while implementing the new changes in the academic curriculum.

In 2023, SXUK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New Town Kolkata Green Smart City Corporation Limited (NKGSCCL) aiming to make it an ideal smart city. This MoU will help both SXUK and NKGSCCL to share expertise and resources in developing New Town as a smart city through collaborative efforts.

SXUK and NKGSCCL will jointly work towards creating the Bee Corridor at Eco Park, Radio New Town, Smart Library, Day Care Centre, case studies on Fuljhuri under Project Impact base and strategy for development of Eco Park under macro impact case study.

We have also signed another MoU with Webel as a part of the Industry-Academia collaboration. Students of SXUK may use laboratories and other facilities at Webel for existing courses. The introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in collaboration with Webel is under consideration.

New skill-enhancement courses for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in collaboration with Webel are being designed. Short Term certificate courses, diploma courses, Faculty Development Programmes and student workshops may be offered by SXUK in collaboration with Webel. Students would also get opportunity to work on live projects during their internship. There will also be placement opportunities for them in the future.

We have also signed an MoU with ‘Child Rights and You’ (CRY) in 2023. The collaboration will enrich the experiential learning of our students and encourage them to work for public service and social work.

Hostel life in SXUK is always pulsating with energy and enthusiasm. The university, at present, has residential facilities for 900 students in its two hostels – 300 for boys and 600 for girls.

SXUK has been constantly enhancing academic as well as infrastructural facilities. Hostel students can use the Fr. Aruppe Central Library till 10:00 p.m. and have access to a wide range of both online and offline resources on campus to help them with their academic work.

We have a strong Placement Cell which has been working effectively to provide opportunities to our students in various reputed national and multinational organisations.

Infrastructurally, we offer our students the best mode of practical learning. We have a Mac Lab, a Windows version Lab and a state-of-the-art audio-visual studio where our students are imparted hands-on training by competent professionals to meet the needs of the industry.

We are the pioneers in introducing the National Academic Depository (NAD), the online repository of all marksheets and certificates of degrees and diplomas in digitised format and the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) in this state. This will help our students meet the global standards whenever and wherever they want to utilize the same.

To encourage active participation in sports and games, we have also announced two best sportsperson scholarships for the best athletes in both men and women categories from the Annual Sports Day 2024. The different cultural societies of the university keep the students engaged in a plethora of academic and cultural activities on campus throughout the year.

The Alumni Association is well organized and SXUK is a case study for alumni participation in all its activities and developments. St. Xavier’s University Kolkata Alumni Association has been given a new office in the Loyola Tirtha.

While the Xavier Business School organised its annual fest ‘Xaviesta’, the Students’ Board of the university celebrated the ‘Xavrang 2024’, the annual cultural fest of the university with great enthusiasm and ceremony in February 2024. It witnessed the participation of not only the students of SXUK, but also students from other colleges and universities.

Our faculty members and support staff members have been relentlessly working for the overall development of the university. We have organized several seminars and conferences in the last one year to make our students aware of the recent trends in research activities.

Once again, I express my best wishes for our students and pray for their success. May God bless all of us.

Nihil Ultra
Rev. Dr. John Felix Raj, S.J.
Vice-Chancellor
March 1, 2024