DBT STAR COLLEGE

Welcome to DBT Star College Scheme

Star College Scheme has been initiated by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India in 2008 to support colleges and universities offering undergraduate education to improve science teaching across the country. DBT is committed to the values of,

  • Pursuit of excellence
  • Academic and intellectual freedom
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Diversity
  • Cooperation and Communication
  • Accountability

DBT has, therefore, launched a scheme for improving critical thinking and ‘ hands-on’ experimental work at the undergraduate (college) level in sciences. It is expected to encourage, more students to take up higher education in science. DBT will identify colleges with ambition and potential for excellence and provide academic and physical infrastructure for achieving excellence in teaching and unique exposure of students to experimental science. Department has supported around 200 undergraduate colleges across the country in the past 9 years. Apart from financial support, colleges have benefited tremendously from guidance received in Advisory Committee Meetings, mentoring, Task Force Meetings, and learning from peers in other colleges.

DBT Star College Scheme

At a Glance

Amount Sanctioned

  • Total Amount: Rs. 36,00,000.00 only  for 3 years, 2017-2019
  • 1st-year grant: Rs. 22,00,000.00 only for the year 2017 – 2018
  • 2nd-year grant: Yet to receive 

 

No. of department supported

Currently, there are 3 departments of Digboi College supported under this scheme.

Objectives

  • Star College Scheme has been initiated by DBT to support colleges offering undergraduate education to improve science teaching.
  • To strengthen the academic and physical infrastructure for achieving excellence in teaching and training.
  • To enhance the quality of the learning and teaching process to stimulate original thinking through ‘hands–on’ exposure to experimental work and participation in summer schools.
  • To promote networking and strengthen ties with neighboring institutions and other laboratories.
  • To conduct specialized training programmes for faculty improvement for optimizing technical capabilities.
  • To increase capabilities of core instrumentation resources by procuring new equipment and upgrading existing facilities.
  • To provide access and exposure to students to research laboratories and industries in the country.
  • To provide better library facilities to students and teachers.

contact details

  • Dr. Nayan Jyoti Khound
  • Department of Chemistry
  • Digboi College , Digboi , Assam — 786171
  • Email id: njkhoind[at]gmail.com
  • Tel. Phone No. +91 863 879 8264

Scheme Details

DBT Star College Scheme, Digboi College

The prestigious DBT STAR COLLEGE SCHEME in the Digboi College was awarded in the year 2017 (Order No. BT/HRD/11/02/2017 & Date: 22.05.2017) by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under ‘Strengthening Component of Star College Scheme from Undergraduate Colleges of India’. Student oriented and Teacher – centric programmes such as workshop, seminars, exchange programme and many more activities are being actively organized for the overall development of the college fraternity.

In the 5th review Meeting of the Task Force held during 18-20th April, 2019 at Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, DBT, Govt. of India noted that experiments, workshops, outreach activities and faculty programmes have significantly increased after the implementation of Star College Scheme in Digboi College and in view of overall improvement, the Task Force awarded Grade ‘A‘ to Digboi college.

Supported Departments

BOTANY

CHEMISTRY

PHYSICS

Co-ordinators' Profile

Dr. Tilak Chandra Dutta

Co-ordinator

Designation: Associate Professor

Department of Botany, Digboi College

Dr. Nayan Jyoti Khound

Co-ordinator

Designation: Assistant Professor

Department of Chemistry, Digboi College

Events & Activities

SCIENCE FAIR

Digboi College organised a Science Fair under DBT Star College Scheme —


Inauguration

  • Date: 15 March 2018; Time: 9.30 a.m.
  • Dr. Dip Saikia, Principal, Digboi College inaugurated the Science Fair entitled “SCIENCE – KRITI”. In his speech, he talked about the life and work of Stephen Hawkins who left for heavenly abode on 14th March 2018.
Inter College Oral Presentation

  • Students from Digboi College, Tinsukia College, Duliajan College, Dibru College, and Margherita College participated in the Oral presentation session. The session started at 10.00 a.m. Mr. A. B. Debnath, Mr. S. Deb, Mr. P. K. Khound, Dr. J. Changmai and Mrs. J. Dutta were the judges for the session. The winners of the competition are —
    • 1st: Amijit Bhattacharjee, Topic – Gravitational Waves; Tinsukia College
    • 2nd: Rahul Saha, Topic – Plastic decomposition; Digboi College.
    • 3rd: Pravakar Singh, Topic – Gravitational waves; Margherita College
    • Inspirational: Tapan Parsain, Topic – Gravitational Waves; Digboi College.
    • Inspirational: Aleena Das, Topic – Fibre Optics communication; Digboi College.
Robotics Workshop

  • Date: 16 March 2018
  • Department of Physics, Digboi College organized a workshop on Robotics on 16th March 2018 from 11.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. at Digboi College. Participating Institutes are as follows 
    • Digboi college: 41
    • Margherita College: 08
    • Duliajan College: 05
    • Tinsukia College: 04
    • Doomdooma college:02
    • Dibru college: 07
  • Participation certificates were distributed among participants of the Robotics workshop. Breakfast and Lunch were provided to all the participating students and student volunteers.
Mobile Planetarium & Science Exhibition

  • Date: 16 March 2018
  • Department of Physics, Digboi College has organized a mobile planetarium and science exhibition show for college students and the students of nearby school students under DBT Star College Scheme, Govt. of India. Participating Schools are —
    • Carmel School: 3
    • DPS: 1
    • Vivekananda Academy:11
    • Digboi College: 41

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Digboi College organised the following  student seminar competition under DBT Star College Scheme —


  Interactive programme for High School student

  • Date: 17 February 2018
  • Higher education in science stream: Prospects and career optionsAn interactive program for High School students was organized by the Department of Physics, Digboi College. At the outset Dr. Dip Saikia, Principal, Digboi College addressed the students. A total of 65 students of class X of Digboi High School, Digboi accompanied by their Science teacher Mrs. Juri Pani Phukan attended the interactive program conducted by the Teaching staff and M.Sc. students of the department.
  • The program consisted of
    • Interactive session on Prospects of higher education in Science stream by Dr. Kanchan Konwar.
    • Talk on the topic: Basics of current electricity-By Dr. Chandan Siam:
    • An audio-visual presentation on : Common optical Phenomenon-by Mr.Ganesh Debnath.
  • M.Sc. 2nd and 4th Semester Students:
    • Demonstration of laboratory instruments and some principles and theories included in the syllabi of classes IX and X.
    • 2. Library visit.

A Lunch break of half an hour was given during which Packet Lunch was distributed among the students The day-long program concluded after a Photo Session.

Drinking Water Quality Analysis

  • Date: 12 August 2018
  • A survey on health and sanitation was conducted at Panbari village in association with Students Science Club and NSS Digboi College. The programme was led by faculty members Dr. Tilak Dutta, Dr. Kanchan Konwar, Dr. Rashmi Patowary, Dr. Kishore Haloi, and  Mr. R.r.tariang. Drinking water was collected and tested at the lab of Digboi College.

GUEST LECTURE SERIES

As Digboi College conducted the following guest lecture series under DBT Star College Scheme


Title: Plant tissue culture and protoplast fusion

  • Date: 29 January 2018
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi college organized a lecture programme on “Plant tissue culture and protoplast fusion”, Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. Prof. P. K. Borua, Professor, dept. of Life Sciences, Dibrugarh University was the resource person of the programme. The programme was attended by 48 students of B.Sc. Botany (Major) and 5 faculty members of Margherita college and Digboi college.
Title: Basic Bio-informatics:

  • Date: 17 February
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi college organized a lecture programme on “Basic Bioinformatics”, Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. Dr. Pankaj Chetia, Asstt. Professor, dept. of Life Sciences, Dibrugarh University was the resource person of the programme. The programme was attended by 28 students of B.Sc. 6th sem and 5 faculty members of Doom dooma college and Digboi college.
Title:Orchid diversity of Assam with reference to Tinsukia district and hands on training on Orchid multiplication

  • Date: 29 March 2018
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi college organized a lecture programme on “Orchid diversity of Assam with reference to Tinsukia district and hands on training on Orchid multiplication”, Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. Orchidologists Mr. Khiyanjit Gogoi was the resource person of the programme. The programme was attended by students of B.Sc. Botany (Major) and 4 faculty members of Digboi college
Title: Personality development and career progress

  • Date: 21 April 2018
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi college organized a talk on “Personality development and career progress” Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. Miss Priyanka Phukan, Alumna, ISB, Hyderabad and employee of Barkley bank, Pune was the resource person of the programme. The programme was attended by students of B.Sc. Botany (Major) and 4 faculty members of Digboi college.
Title: Introduction to mutation

  • Date: 7 March 2020
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College Organized a Guest Lecture program on “Introduction to mutation” for the students of Botany Honours under the Star College Scheme, DBT New Delhi. The Resource Person of the program was Dr. P.K. Borua, Retd. Professor, Department of Life Sciences, Dibrugarh University.
Title: Biodiversity of NE India- A plant hunter’s experience

  • Date: 20 July 2020
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College organized a Webinar on “Biodiversity of NE India- A plant hunter’s experience” under the Star College Scheme, DBT New Delhi. The resource person in the webinar was Dr. Rajib Gogoi, Senior Scientist E and Head, BSI, Sikkim.
Title: Covid – 19: Science and Technological Development

  • Date: 3 August 2020
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College organized a Webinar on “Covid – 19: Science and Technological Development” under the Star College Scheme, DBT New Delhi. The resource person in the webinar was Dr. Bula Choudhury, Senior Scientist, Guwahati Biotech Park, IIT Guwahati.
Title:Epidemiology of Covid – 19 and Covid- 19 Vaccination

  • Date: 28 Jun 2021
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College organized a Webinar on “Epidemiology of Covid – 19 and Covid- 19 Vaccination” under the Star College Scheme, DBT New Delhi. The resource person in the webinar was Dr. Kaushik Talukdar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine (Social and Preventive Medicine), Lakhimpur Medical College, North Lakhimpur.
Title:Basics and Application of UV, IR and NMR Spectroscopy

  • Date: 28 June to 30 June 2020
  • Department of Chemistry organized a Virtual Lecture series under the Star College Scheme of DBT on” Basics and Application of UV, IR and NMR Spectroscopy” for the UG Chemistry students and faculties of Digboi College. Dr. Bolin Chetia, Asst. Prof., Dibrugarh University joined the programme as a Resource person.

SEMINAR COMPETITION

Digboi College organised the following  student seminar competition under DBT Star College Scheme —


Inter district students’ seminar competition

  • Date: 27 September
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College organized an Inter district students’ seminar competition titled “Recent trends in Plant Science”, Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. Dr. Dipali Borpujari, Assistant professor of Botany, Margherita College delivered a keynote address on “ Study on restoration of vegetation and soil in coalmine spoil at Tipok opencast mines”. Dr. Dipali Borpujari, Assistant professor of Botany, Margherita College, and Dr. Jayanta Sonowal, Assistant professor of Botany, Namrup College judged the technical session. 14 students presented their papers in the competition.

 

ACADEMIC EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

Digboi College organised the following academic exchange programme under DBT Star College Scheme —


Date: 18 August 2018

  • A day long academic exchange programme organized by dept. of Botany, Chemistry and Physics, Digboi college in collaboration with Duliajan college, Tinsukia college, and Doomdooma college, Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi. A total of 103 students and 14 faculty members of the said college took part in the event.

Date: 27 June 2021

  • Department of Chemistry organized an Academic Exchange Programme (Virtual) for UG Chemistry students with Tinsukia college. Dr. Abhijit Mahanta, Dept. of Chemistry, Digboi College, and Dr. Saswati Phookan Dept. of Chemistry, Tinsukia College acted as Resource Person in the said Exchange programme.

Date: 29 June 2021

  • Department of Chemistry organized an Academic Exchange Programme (Virtual) under the Star College Scheme of DBT for UG Chemistry students with Duliajan College. Mrs. Neelakshi Hazarika, Dept. of Chemistry, Digboi College, and Dr. Monsumi Gogoi, Dept. of Chemistry, Duliajan College acted as Resource persons in the said Exchange programme.

Date: 27 June 2021

  • Department of Chemistry organized an Academic Exchange Programme (Virtual) under the Star College Scheme of DBT for UG Chemistry students with Duliajan College. Mrs. Neelakshi Hazarika, Dept. of Chemistry, Digboi College, and Dr. Kalyani Rajkumari, Dept. of Chemistry, Duliajan College acted as Resource persons in the said Exchange programme.

ORIENTATION PROGRAMME

Digboi College organised the following Orientation programme under DBT Star College Scheme —


Inter college student centric and curriculum based orientation programme

  • Date: 27 March 2018
  • Department of Chemistry organized an Inter college student-centric and curriculum-based orientation programme for Chemistry UG students of Digboi and Tinsukia College. Dr Pankaj Bharali, Professor, Dept. of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University & Dr. Sajal Kumar Das, Professor, Dept. of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University were invited as resource persons for the said programme.

ACADEMIC TOUR

Digboi College organised the following Academic Tour programme under DBT Star College Scheme —


Academic tour to AAU, NEIST, RFRI, Jorhat.

  • Date: 15 March to 16 March 2018
  • A team of 36 students and 4 faculty members of dept. of Botany, Digboi College visited AAU, NEIST, RFRI as a part of academic tour Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi.
Academic tour to Tezpur University 

  • Date: 16 February 2018
  • A team of 36 students and 3 faculty members of dept. of Chemistry, Digboi College visited Tezpur University, Assam as a part of Academic Tour Under star college scheme, DBT, Govt of India, New Delhi.

WORKSHOP

Digboi College organised the following Workshop under DBT Star College Scheme —


Hand on training on orchid culture and their management
  • Date: 7 November 2019
  • Dept. of Botany, Digboi College organized a day-long Workshop on “Hand on training on orchid culture and their management” under the Star College Scheme, DBT New Delhi. Orchidologist Mr. Khyanjeet Gogoi was the resource person in the workshop.
National workshop on Nano Science and Technology

  • Date: 4 September 2018
  • Department of Chemistry & Physics organized a National workshop on Nano Science and Technology in Digboi College. UG and PG Students with faculties from Digboi college and Tinsukia college actively participated in this programme and interacted with the resource persons. The resource persons invited for this programme were (1) Dr C. S Gopinath, Head, Material Science Division, CSIR-NCL, Pune (2) Dr. Lakshi Saikia, Head, Material Science Division, CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat.
Antariksh: Workshop on Astronomy And Sky observation using Telescope

  • Date: 14 March 2019
  • Department of Physics organized a workshop on Handling of Telescope and Night Sky Observation under the DBT Star College scheme at Digboi College. Resource person Dr. Pranabjyoti Chetia, Curator and Incharge, Jorhat Science Centre and Planetarium delivered a talk on Tactics of Telescope.

Memory Lane

5th review Meeting of the Task Force

Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India

Dr. Dip Saikia, Principal, Digboi College representing Digboi College in the 5th Meeting of the Task Force of the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India held from 18 April to 20 April 2019 at Pondicherry University, Puducherry.

Antariksh: Night Sky Watching

A programme on Telescope Handling

Antariksh

Astronomy Club, Digboi College

Extension Activity

Interactive Programme for HS Student

Mobile Planetorium

Science Fair - Science Kriti

Eminent Guests

Eminent guests invited under DBT Star College Scheme -

Dr. P. K. Baruah

Professor

Life Science, Dibrugarh University

Dr. Pankaj Chetia

Assistant Professor

Life Science, Dibrugarh University

Khyanjeet Gogoi

Orchid Conservationist

Orchid Society of Eastern Himalaya

Dr. Pankaj Bharali

Assistant Professor

Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University

Dr. Sajal Kr. Das

Assistant Professor

Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University

Dr. C. S. Gopinath

Principal Scienties

Catalysis Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune

Dr. Lakshi Saikia

Scientist

Material Science Division, CSIR – NEIST, Jorhat

Dr. Pranab Jyoti Chetia

Curator $ In Charge

Jorhat Science Centre and Planetarium

Dr. Bolin Chetia

Assistant Professor

Chemistry, Dibrugarh University

Priyanka Phukan

Project Rebase Manager

ISB, Hyderabad; Barclays, United Kingdom

Quality Improvements

Imporvement of teaching learning quality at Digboi College through DBT Star College Scheme —


Better Lab Facility

  • Instruments purchased under the DBT grant have enhanced laboratory facilities both qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
Seminars and Workshops  
  • Students have developed more interest in their concerned subjects after participating in seminars and workshops.

Academic Exchange Programme
  • It has broadened the horizon of the participating students by exposing them to diverse perspectives through resource persons from different institutions and interaction with students from other institutions.
   Industrial as well as Academic Institution visits
  •  Academic tours have exposed students to the applied aspect of their subjects.

   Extension Activity
  • The neighboring schools and colleges have been benefitted by outreach programs/extension programs taken under the scheme.