History of Psychology at Andaman College (ANCOL), Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Assignment  (1444201)

History of Psychology at Andaman College (ANCOL), Andaman and Nicobar Islands

 

Introduction:  

Set away from the Indian mainland and located on the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are best known for their peaceful climate. The place have limited scope for higher education. Andaman College came up in the year 2014 as the third degree college of the islands and is affiliated to Pondicherry University.

BSc in Psychology is one of the subjects offered at the undergraduate level at Andaman College, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is a three year full time course aimed at introducing students to the fundamental processes underlying human behaviour. Psychology as a subject is being started in a degree course for the first time in any college in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

 

History:

The subject "Psychology" was introduced in the year 2014 at my college and the college is affiliated to Pondicherry University. The initial intake of the capacity for the subject is 30 students per year. The college follows a honours degree pattern. The students have to study only Psychology related subjects as their mains and allied apart from the foundation courses. The foundation courses are English and one language (Hindi/Bengali/Tamil/Telugu). Since the subject was newly introduced, students were facing difficulties in getting books and other reference materials. After three months only the library included some 100 to 150 books in the Psychology section to be referred by the undergraduate students. A small psychology Lab with minimum facilities also got functioning after six months. Since the subject is in its formation years, yet equipped students of the first batch to write their 1^st semester examination in the month of December 2014.Despite lack of facilities 90% of the students cleared their first semester. With the completion of one year, the existing students will be facing their second semester examination; the subject will accommodate 30 more in the next academic year ie 2015-16. The number of books will go up to 500-700, with some more facilities. The Lab is also expected to be more equipped compared to the previous academic session.

In future ie within a couple of years the college is planning to increase the intake capacity from 30 to 60 depending upon the approval by the University and the local administration. The college is also planning to introduce under graduate courses by linking Psychology with other subjects.