St Xavier's building Rs 250-crore research centre

The elite St Xavier's College is building a Rs 250-crore research centre for microbiology and biotechnology offering state-of-the-art facilities with industry collaboration in Rajarhat.
The new campus build at a plot of 17 acres will have full research facilities and would also offer undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD courses on microbiology and biotechnology, College principal Father Felix Raj said.
"The focus of all our research activities would be community development. All research has to benefit the people," he told PTI, adding that they would collaborate with industries and industry bodies like CII and FICCI so that the projects are linked with the market.

When asked about the funding of the centre, the principal said the money is being collected through their well-placed alumni, many of whom like ArcelorMittal's CEO L N Mittal and RPG's Sanjeev Goenka are big industrialists.
"We have already collected Rs 50 crore from the alumni network and as donations from other industrialists," he said while pointing out that the contributors have chosen to remain anonymous.
The alumni association is initiating 'Project Lakshya' where each contributor donates a minimum Rs 1 lakh to college funds.

Ranked amongst the top colleges in the country, St Xavier's, which has sought university tag, has been allowed autonomous status, besides the power to award degrees.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would lay the foundation stone of the proposed campus at a function here tomorrow.
In three years' time, the new campus would open its doors for students in the first phase, while the construction would be fully complete by 2019.