NABAGRAM HIRALAL PAUL COLLEGE

About the Department

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Economics department is established in 1957(General /Minor) & Honors (Major) is introduced in 2003(H). One of the most sought after courses, an Honors in Economics is highly reputed and well recognised in the University and industry. It introduces students to the basics of Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, quantitative techniques, statistics & Econometrics with R, stata or python like softwares which is foundation of Artificial Intelligence and data science, Environmental Economics, Financial Economics base of Actuary Science,  Development Economics and other specialized areas like Public Finance, International Trade and Indian Economy. Discipline Specific Elective courses that are offered in the honors course, have been judiciously selected bearing in mind industrial demands and a multidisciplinary framework ensuring wide diversity of courses across the field of Economics. Department of Economics offered Applied Econometrics with R software as well as Financial Economics as DSE last semester and we are going to offer Economics Major with compulsory minor Mathematics in Calcutta University and political science/psychology  keeping in mind the demand for human resource having knowledge in both Economics as well as psychology. This will open up the scope for students studying Economics Major here to work in Human Resource management, digital marketing, financial sector, artificial intelligence etc. in future. At a higher level, demand for behavioral economics is increasing which requires knowledge of Economics as well as Psychology. The Economics department is credited with the publication in reputed national and international journals and book chapters. The department is credited with a highly dynamic and meritorious group of faculty, along with a vibrant and active students though small in numbers, which regularly organizes seminars, lectures etc, giving ample opportunity to students to contribute positively to the department. The department actively promotes interdisciplinary research, where teachers regularly engage with students of Economics Honors and B. Com Honors as co-learners and mentors to produce research that has significant managerial and societal implications. The faculty encourages the students to take up leadership positions in the Economics Society and promotes vibrant team- work that prepares the students to take up challenges further on in their career. Over the years, many new initiatives have been taken by the society, including an industrial visit to Bombay stock Exchange Kolkata office organized by the department in collaboration with the Commerce department. The society also boasts of a Knowledge and Development Cell. After pursuing an Honors course in Economics, students have the options of pursuing a Masters course in the subject or allied disciplines, taking up professional courses like Operators in Data Types by Alma Better and postgraduate diploma courses in Bombay Stock Exchange, appearing for the UPSC/ wbcs  examinations and other competitive examinations and opting for direct placement in several corporate and governmental organizations through the college placement cell. Alumni students of Nabagram Hiralal Paul College  have secured admissions into prestigious Indian and foreign universities and institutions, and few are working in Senior relationship manager at piramal finance limited, DEO(contract) , The Marine Product Export Development Authority ministry of commerce industry gov. of India, Price Water House AC in India , certified Personal Branding Specialist etc.They have gone on to hold important and influential positions in public and private domain. The department students and faculty strive continuously to further their achievements and bring laurels to the college and University.

 

 

Mission of Economics department of Nabagram Hiralal College is to provide a high-quality education in economics,data science,contemporary softwares, present scenario of Indian economy and financial economics to make them future leaders of industry, government and civil society. In doing so, economics department identified following missions.

1. Providing quality guidance to both advance and majority backward students who are first generation learners to prepare them for successful careers.

2. Engaging them in practical field oriented so that they can explore their domain knowledge in practical field conducive for their career development, ensure society development and economic growth of their future employers.

3. Providing service to the college and greater community.

 

 

1. Uphold high standard of academic performance as far as practicable through their capacity building.

2. Maintaining mutual respect and cordial relation between students and teachers.

3. Promote livelihood skills of students as per their ability and choice.

4. Maintain a good collegiate environment,

5. Interact with greater community.

6. Teaching them Sustainability of their improvement and  innovation  in future.

 

1.            To ensure that our students have the integrative and critical thinking skills as well as quantitative and qualitative abilities to analyze complex domestic economic, social and global problems.

2.            To ascertain that our students have the necessary interpersonal, communication and leadership skills so that they can function as responsible citizens and effective leaders.

3.            To create a collaborative teaching, learning and research environment that emphasizes social responsibility, ethical decision-making and a global perspective.

4.            To create a community of teacher-scholars and students who are actively engaged with each other and the world.

 

At the core of our education is a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong learning.

• A.  Strength:
  • (i) Dedicated faculties work hard to uplift the academic outcome of students
  • (ii) Faculties used official meeting app of college ‘Microsoft team’ during covid pandemic to conduct classes in online mode
  • (iii) Cordial & homely relationship between all Teachers and students.
  • (iv) Department offers ‘Financial Economics’(base of Actuary Science) & ‘Applied Econometrucs’ with R software in 5th semester Economics Honours, which is the best combination of Discipline specific elective floated by University of Calcutta conducive for corporate sector job. Department of Economics of our college is one of the two colleges under University of Calcutta which offered R software(used in Artificial Intelligence) in curriculum in lieu of Stata software in Applied Econometrics DSE.
  • (v) Even with small number of teachers as well as students, department showed flexibility in offering different DSEs ( Environmental Economics & Issues in Development Economics) in 6th semester respecting willingness of students.
  • (vi) Department offers a course on ‘Research Methodology’ in 4th Semester Honours as Skill Enhancement Course  & provides the scope to apply the knowledge acquired in 4th & 5th semester in preparing term paper of 6th semester DSE course ‘Issues in  Indian Economy’ which is also helpful for employability in future.
  • (vii) Economics department offers ‘Entrepreneurship Development Course’ as SEC in 4th semester general which will help the students in earning livelihood in future.

 

• B. Weaknesses:
• (i)  Number of enrolments in Economics Honours is very low inspite of respectable demand ratio.
• (ii) Students enrolling in Economics Honours sometimes lack in mathematical skills
• (iii)  Few students taking Economics general are coming from financially weaker section. So, they are irregular in attending classes due to their engagements to earn livelihood. Some of them work in a xerox centre, catering service etc.

 

• C. Opportunities:
  • (i)   Economics department may attract more students in future with strong mathematical background if society gets the information regarding the DSEs offered in Economics Honours.
  • (ii)  Department offers Money and Banking in Economics General which is also helpful to get job.
  • (iii)  Different job oriented optional subjects offered as SEC & DSE in both Economics Honours & General may attract more students enrolling in our department in future.
  • (iv)  Students passing Economics Honours may get high-quality white-collar job in private sector despite mediocre result as they have knowledge of Actuary science and R software. 

 

• D. Challenges:

• (i)            Students’ enrolment in Economics Honours is vulnerable due to information asymmetry prevailing in the college admission process.
• (ii)           If enrolment in Economics Honours fall further, then academic atmosphere of the department will suffer in future.

 

Suggested Road map keeping students’ interest in the core and to ensure better visibility.

• (i)  College should provide information in website regarding different optional course offered both in Economics Honours & general.
• (ii)  Interactive workshop with feeder schools of the college regarding importance of the subject in contemporary world and role of the department in catering those needs.
• (iii)  Our department has to teach different subjects of B.Com Honours & General. So, class load is high. Our department needs more teaching faculties in future and provision of departmental computer and projector to use ICT tools even in offline mode regularly.

 

Academic years	Programme	Intake Capacity	Registered candidates
2018-2019	BSC Economics Honours	20	0
2019-2020	BSC Economics Honours	20	0
2020-2021	BSC Economics Honours	20	3
2021-2022	BSC Economics Honours	20	0
	BSC/B A Economics General	150	32
2022-2023	BSC Economics Honours	20	2
	BSC/B A Economics General	150	26
2023-2024	BSC Economics Honours	20	3
	BSC/B A Economics General	150