St. Xaviers of Kolkata goes to Dubai

(June 6, 2009) Jesuit run St Xavier’s College, one of the leading educational institutions in Eastern India’s Kolkata city is set to become first City College with an overseas campus. Should everything go according to plan, its offshore campus will start in Dubai by the year-end. The 200-strong college alumni association of Dubai has taken upon itself the task of assisting the college administration in this venture. The request for such a campus initially came to the Jesuit missionaries of St Xavier’s from the alumni a couple of months back, when the Dubai chapter of the alumni association was launched ceremoniously with quite a few senior Jesuits in attendance. Father Felix Raj, the Principal of the College who attended the chapter, said that the college is now conducting a survey to find out the kind of subjects in demand in Dubai at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He noted that there is a huge demand for English-language training and management studies. We will certainly have some courses there. He added that they would take the help of XLRI and XIMB, the two Jesuit management institutes of national repute. The prestigious college currently celebrating its 150 anniversary, has been granted autonomy by the Calcutta University, to formulate its own syllabus and establish its own evaluation system