History

The Department of Zoology was established in 1974 with a limited number of Faculty and facilities. During the last 30 years, the Department has made all round progress and acquired a position among the leading departments of NEHU and other Universities of India. It offers specialization in several major disciplines of Zoology (e.g., Genetics, Parasitology, Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology, Cell Biology and Immunology, Entomology, Limnology and Biosystematics, Developmental Biology, Adaptational Biochemistry and Adaptational Physiology, etc.). For the last few years, the department has been selected by the UGC for conducting Refresher Courses in Zoology for the College and University teachers and has trained about 550 College and University teachers from the different states of N.E. India.

The M.Sc. syllabus of the Department is based on the UGC National Curriculum and it is regularly revised and updated to incorporate recent developments. So far, about 500 students have been awarded M.Sc. degree. A careful analysis of the examination results indicated that about 300 SC/ST students and 200 General category students have been awarded M.Sc. degree in Zoology. The ratio of SC/ST versus General category students who passed M.Sc. was 88::114 during the period from 1976-1989. However, it has registered a significant increase of 5:1 during the last fourteen years (1990-2004). The available trends indicate that the Department has played a significant role in the promotion of higher education among SC/ST students. Further, during the last 30 years, Ph.D. and M.Phil degrees have been awarded to 83 and 28 scholars, respectively. On average 3 to 4 research students qualify NET and GATE each year. A large number of its students are holding, besides government jobs, important faculty positions in the Colleges, Universities and Research Institutions of the N.E. region and other parts of the country. The students run a Departmental club called "Zoonic Society", which coordinates weekly seminars delivered by M. Sc. students and research scholars, organizes inter-departmental Quiz competition, debates/discussion and games, picnic etc., and an annual magazine 'Zoonic News' is published regularly. They also promote public awareness by celebrating the 'World Environment Day" and "World Forest Day".

The Department has selected ‘Environmental Biology’ as its major thrust area for research having special relevance to the North Eastern India. Based on the overall academic and research contributions, the Department was sanctioned DRS project by the UGC (New Delhi) in 1991 under ‘Special Assistance Programme’. The Department successfully completed the first and the second phase of the DRS project on October 2000. The Department was sanctioned the third phase of DRS in 2000 for another five years. It is important to mention that the Department has received a grant of rupees sixty six lakhs from the UGC under the COSIST programme, and rupees fifty lakhs from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the FIST programme last year for further development of infra-structural facilities in recognition of the academic achievements of this Department during the last 30 years. About 25 research projects (total cost: Rs 2.70 Crore approx.) sponsored by UGC, CSIR, ICAR, DST, DoEn, DAE, NEC, GTZ (Germany), Eco-development, State DST and Meghalaya Pollution Control Board have already been completed. These projects have a direct relevance to the socio-economic development of the N.E. region.

The faculty of the Department of Zoology is working in collaboration with National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, National Research Center for Cold Water Fisheries, Zoological Survey of India, several Indian Universities, University of Mainz (Germany), University of Minnesota (USA), University Clinic of Dusseldorf (Germany) and Gray Laboratories (UK). In recognition of the distinguished academic and research contributions, most of the faculty members have been awarded prestigious national and international fellowships/awards (e.g., FNASc, FZS, FZSI, ISCA, Young Scientist Award, National Associateship, Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowships, DAAD Fellowships, Roosevelt Fellowship, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Mount Vernon Hospital Trust Fellowship, etc.). The faculty members have been attending various international and national conferences/ seminars/ symposia etc., in which they have chaired several scientific sessions. The department has so far organized two national symposia, a COSIST Workshop, an international conference, one regional seminar, one DBT workshop, two Young Scientists’ National Workshop and 29 refresher courses. The faculty has published over 550 research papers in reputed national and international journals, edited books, manuals and monographs.