Department of English:
The Department of English is as old as the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (1949) and owes its genesis to the Baroda College (1881). The Department is at the forefront of innovative and challenging courses in English Studies. An integral part of the Faculty of Arts, it occupies a key place in the undergraduate courses of not only other departments but also other faculties. While this is so, the Department utilizes its autonomy in the framing and teaching of its curricular programs at the undergraduate and post graduate levels as well as research. The Department offers courses at undergraduate and post graduate levels as well as a doctoral program. It has curriculum updated according to the UGC model. The Department also proposes to offer an M.Phil program once it gets requisite approvals.
The Department was awarded the prestigious Special Assistance Program (Departmental Research Scheme – Phase I) of the University Grants Commission for the research project ‘Cultural Representations and the Question of Identity in the Western Region, 1960-2000’ from 2007-2012. It has now been awarded SAP DRS – Phase II by UGC for the period from 2013-2018. The Department is at present working on ‘Representing the Region: Literary Discourses, Social Movements and Cultural Forms in Western India, 1960-2000’ under this SAP DRS Phase II project on ‘Representing the Region: Literary Discourses, Social Movements and Cultural Forms in Western India, 1960-2000’ . At present Department is working on to get the sanction from the UGC for “UGC SAP DRS III “Representing Region: English Studies in Western India : 1960 to Present” . The proposed third phase is rooted in the first two phases and proposes to investigate the questions of literary, social, cultural and political movements characterized by a profound concern with identity and marked by the cross-currents of the post-colonial impulse to envisage/ forge region (western India) through the canon of English Studies.
The Department has a ‘Literary Society’ and ‘Film Club’ which actively involve the students. ‘The Quill’ gives platform to the creativity of the students of the university, reflected in the wallpaper it brings out and the competitions it organizes regularly. It has also been identified as one of the major centers in Western India for conducting Refresher Courses in English and has successfully conducted 3 Refresher Courses since 2002.
The Department organizes Seminars, Conferences, Workshops, and Symposia on a regular basis. It is also associated with inter-disciplinary intellectual activities with various faculties within the university. The teachers are actively involved in research and publication. They participate regularly in seminars, conferences and workshops at both national and the international levels and many of the teaching staff have been recipients of national and international awards.