The language lab at the engineering college. File picture

Siliguri, June 17: Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College is planning to introduce postgraduate courses after it became eligible for the second phase of World Bank assistance under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme.

The sanctioning authority is the National Project Implementation Unit, which monitors the programme. The college has already sent an outline of its plan — PG courses in mechanical, electrical and civil engineering — to the organisation.

“We had received Rs 10 crore under the quality improvement programme in the first phase. In the past two-and-a-half years, it was utilised to augment the infrastructure of the institution and simultaneously work for community development,” a senior professor of the college said.

“Now, the institution has become eligible to get funds for the second phase and we have already sent an outline of our next project to the monitoring organisation. The funds would be used to develop infrastructure for post graduate courses including upgrade of laboratories and purchasing equipment,” he added.

After it was made a partner of a network for engineering colleges with Jadavpur University as the nodal agency, the Jalpaiguri institution utilised the money to build a language laboratory, introduce the centralised campus-wide networking facility and video conferencing and set up a central computer laboratory.

Faculty members who are part of the team formed to implement the programme in the college also spoke of some of the other projects in the pipeline.

“We have plans to start student and faculty exchange programmes with other institutions of the network on a regular basis for quality improvement,” one of them said. “As a first step, we are sending 45-50 students from all the six engineering streams taught here to Jadavpur University in the third week of this month. They are likely to stay there for two weeks.”

The college got the first phase of funds after it was recognised by the National Board of Accreditation for its civil, mechanical and engineering courses. “We have applied for the remaining three streams — computer science, electronics and communication and information technology. Once the college gets it, funds for the project could be used for the upgrade of these courses as well,” the professor said.

To widen the scope of learning among the students, the institution is contemplating starting distance education with Jadavpur University. “Tie-ups with overseas universities for interaction and exchange are yet to be finalised,” he said.