Kurseong June 6: Students of Mirik, 35 km from here, can hope for better opportunities for higher studies in their hill town.

Mirik Degree College, founded in 2000, has received the nod from North Bengal University to start honours courses in English and Nepali from this academic session, starting from July 17.

?The university has given a green signal to start the degree course in English and Nepali. This is going to help students a lot since they usually have to travel all the way to Kurseong, Darjeeling and even Siliguri to study these subjects. Plans are also afoot to start honours course in the other humanities subjects,? said principal in charge of the college Anand Chhetri. ?We had sent proposal for five subjects and have got the nod for these two.? History, geography and political science are the other subjects, which were suggested.

The college also plans to construct a new building that is going to cost around Rs 80 lakh.

?Municipal affairs minister and local MLA Asok Bhattacharya, who is also the patron of the college, had taken the initiative to build a new building for the institution. There are also chances that the college will start honours courses in the science stream and other vocational courses,? said Chhetri.