Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, has appealed to its alumni for help to develop artificial intelligence and zoology laboratories and maintain and renovate its buildings.

The principal said they had to develop the labs following the introduction of the four-year undergraduate courses from last year. The college does not have funds for these projects, he said.

The central government has launched the four-year programmes but has not provided any financial support to colleges, forcing the institutions to raise resources on their own.

The college requires ₹4.5 for these projects, principal Swami Ekachittananda said.

The autonomous institution also needs support to enhance the capacity of its hostels as four-year programmes mean students will stay longer.

An appeal signed by the principal said: "As a natural corollary to this, we need to increase the student intake capacity in the hostel. After careful consideration of various constraints, the college has decided to go for the augmentation of an additional floor of ‘Adbhutananda Bhavana’, the 3-storeyed hostel building which was set up in 2015."

Several new interdisciplinary and skill-enhancement courses have had to be started under the new four-year UG programmes.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning constitute integral parts of the curriculum now, the principal said.

"The college is also seriously pondering introducing a master’s programme in data science. Keeping all these initiatives in mind, we need to upgrade our computer laboratories... Therefore, the college is reaching out to former students for support," the principal told Metro.

A college official said they were working on a plan to introduce a UG honours programme in biological science, which could later be upgraded to a PG programme. "We have to construct labs to facilitate the launch of the course. The college lacks funds for this," the official said.