Jorhat, July 22: Dispur’s decision to upgrade Jagannath Barooah College here to a university has generated euphoria among the teachers and students of the institution.

The college is the second in the state after Cotton College and the first in Upper Assam to be upgraded,

After passing the bill to grant university status to Cotton College in the just-concluded state budget session, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced that the government had decided to convert J.B. College into a university.

It was the first non-government college in the state, set up on a plot of land donated by the Barooah family, in the heart of the town. Personalities like chief minister Tarun Gogoi, former Union minister B.K. Handique and former Dibrugarh University vice-chancellor late Mukunda Madhab Sarmah were students of the college that had teachers like former parliamentarian Hem Baruah and litterateur Padmabhusan Syed Abdul Malik.

With 19 departments under three streams, the college has five undergraduate courses, two postgraduate courses and one diploma course with over 3,500 students (including the higher secondary level) and over 100 teachers.

Principal Bijoy Sarmah told The Telegraph today that the “college family”, including teachers, students, non-teaching staff, well-wishers and ex-students were “very happy” to know that the government had decided to grant university status to the college.

“There has been no official communication from the government so far, but we have heard about the proposal from media reports. The college deserves it. We are thankful to the government,” he added.

Sarmah said upgrade of the college would fulfil the academic needs of Upper Assam in particular, since there is only one university in the area, and the state in general.

He said the institute was running several new courses with a good faculty and adequate infrastructure and the upgrade would be beneficial for students wanting to pursue master’s degree here.

The general secretary of the college students’ union, Ranjanjyoti Bora, said the government’s decision would benefit the students of the area and be another feather in the college cap.

Kashyap Phukan, a fourth semester BCA student, said Jorhat, being the central point in Upper Assam, had engineering and medical colleges and an agricultural university. Hence, a general university would definitely serve students’ interest.

David Hazarika, Debashis Kathkotiya, Parash Pratim Neog — all degree arts stream students — said many colleges of Jorhat and adjoining districts would benefit as they would come under the new university.

Darshana Borthakur, Juntimoni Baruah and Monalisa Borthakur — all first semester arts students — welcomed the move and said appointment of teachers and construction of necessary infrastructure should be done immediately so that students do not face problems.