The North Bengal University (NBU), which is also the oldest and largest varsity of the region, will introduce an MBA course in rural management from the next academic session.

So far, no other varsity in north Bengal offers this course.

“The MBA in rural management specialisation prepares students to take on challenging responsibilities in rural and developmental organisations. They need to visit rural areas, interact and stay with villagers as a part of their fieldwork. Also, an organisational internship gives them hands-on experience of working in a rural setup,” said a source at the NBU.

Sanmoy Mallick, the assistant professor and former head of the department of management at the NBU, said that during the Covid-19-induced lockdowns in both 2020 and 20201, they had discovered the benefits of studying rural management as most places of this region are rural areas.

“I started gathering information and came to know that students of this region will benefit if they study rural management. Most of the places in north Bengal are rural areas and there is a huge scope to work for the comprehensive development of these areas through organised and proper planning,” he said.

According to him, the varsity has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education. which functions under the Union ministry of education, .for the course.

“We went to Hyderabad to sign this agreement. However, classes will start from the next session as right now, we do not have the faculty members for running this course. Initially, there is a plan to start the course with 30 students,” added Mallick.

At the varsity, land has been provided next to the department of management for a new building. “We need funds and faculty members for the course and have sought help from the state education department,” said an official of the NBU.

Pranab Ghosh, the registrar, admitted that they have been facing space problems on this campus.

“We need more space for 120 new faculties and we also need space for research scholars. We have decided to shift some of them to the Jalpaiguri campus as we need infrastructural development to give them space here,” he said.

He said that during the past three-four years, a number of new departments have been opened and new courses introduced.

“There is a scarcity of teachers in those departments. We need to have at least three to four new faculty members in each department and sent a letter to the state in December last year, seeking recruitment of new teachers,” added Ghosh.