St Xavier’s University, New Town, plans to set up a medical college and will seek land from the state government for the project, vice-chancellor Father Felix Raj announced on Tuesday. The private university also intends to start a nursing school as the first step toward its expansion into medical education.

“We will first start with a nursing school,” Father Felix Raj said at a news conference. “Whether a nursing college or a medical college, you have to link it with a hospital. Once you start a medical college, you need to have a hospital, or you tie up with some hospitals. Even for a nursing school, you need hospital tie-ups.”

He said the university has begun consultations with hospital CEOs and medical administrators. “First we will start a nursing school, then we will gradually get into the medical college,” he said.

Three essentials are required to set up a medical college: land, a functioning hospital or a tie-up with one, and approval from the National Medical Council.

St Xavier’s had earlier requested 10 acres from the state government for infrastructure expansion, but approval is still awaited. “We have reminded the government. We will need more land,” Father Felix Raj said. “The nursing school could start on the current campus or on a new one.”

A varsity official said they were likely to raise the land requirement again when chief minister Mamata Banerjee visits St Xavier’s College on Park Street on December 18 for its annual pre-Christmas celebration.

The university’s move comes at a time of private-sector interest in medical education in Bengal. At the Bengal Global Business Summit in February, the JIS group announced a ₹750-crore medical college in Hooghly, expected to be operational in two years. Desun Hospital, off EM Bypass, has also unveiled plans for a medical college and a 1,500-bed hospital in Dankuni by 2028. St Xavier’s entering the field could mean several new private medical colleges across the state in the next few years.

On Tuesday, the university also announced its BTech programme. The Xavier School of Engineering will offer four streams — computer science and engineering; information technology; electronics and communication engineering; and computer science and engineering (AI and machine learning) — with a total of 240 seats beginning next year.

“The university will hold its own entrance test to screen students for the BTech courses,” Father Felix Raj said. If seats remain vacant after the screening, candidates from the Bengal JEE merit list will be considered.

St Xavier’s University will hold its seventh convocation at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre on February 21, 2026. Shashi Tharoor will receive the honoris causa, and Reverend Arturo Sosa, SJ, superior general of the Jesuits in Rome, will be the chief guest.