Father Felix Raj at the felicitation ceremony. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

St Xavier’s College plans to start postgraduate courses in microbiology, economics and English.

The microbiology course might start this year, while the English and economics departments are expected to open doors to PG students from the next academic session.

“Calcutta University is asking us to start more postgraduate courses. Since we are an autonomous college, the university wants us to admit as many of our students in PG courses as possible,” principal Father Felix Raj said on Wednesday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a programme to commemorate his first year as principal of St Xavier’s.

The Park Street institution now runs postgraduate courses in biotechnology, computer, physics, commerce and education.

The new courses will accommodate about 50 students. The curricula are yet to be decided.

The principal said work on the new campus, on a 6acre plot on the EM Bypass, should start soon. “The campus is likely to be ready in two years.”

The college plans to shift the Educational Multimedia Research Centre, a UGC project to produce educational films, to the Bypass site where a research centre to facilitate postgraduate studies will also be set up.

The authorities, however, feel the 6acre plot the state government has provided is not enough to implement all their plans.

“I have requested the chief minister to give us more land, on the Bypass or in Rajarhat. We want to become a university in the next 20 years and will need more space for that. Every year we receive 25,000 applications but can take in only 2,000 students. We want to be a university with 10,000 students,” said the principal.