Welcome to the Department of English, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar!!!
Vallabh Vidyanagar, this hallowed educational township, the portals of our university and Department, where many have had the privilege of studying and doing research, is a very peaceful campus. Established to cater to the academic need of the rural youth of the Charotar area, today the university takes pride in providing world-class education not only to the students from Gujarat but also from other states and countries across the globe.
This Department of English was established by Sardar Patel University, in 1958, three years after it was duly constituted by an Act of the then Government of Bombay Province. Since then, it has been the mission of the department to cater to our learners’ needs vis-à-vis advanced learning and research in English Studies. The department is certainly aware of the great responsibility this entails, for the great Sardar Patel, the illustrious Iron Man of India, had stressed the need for imparting education of the kind that would prepare future citizens of independent India, self-motivated and self-reliant, rather than creating a mass of educated youth lingering after employment.
The Department today offers MA (Full-time), MPhil (Full-time) and PhD degree (Full-time/Part-time) programmes in broad areas of specialisation within English Studies. English Studies is a discipline within a specialism called English. Initiated to pursue theoretical knowledge, English studies, today has come a long way encompassing many sub-disciplines that equip students to cater to the need and emerging demand of the practical application of the subject.
Language, being a product of culture, translation studies and cultural studies, has become very important. Linguistic and Literary Studies within English Studies are no longer restricted to English Literature in the sense of British Literature but have begun to embrace American Literature, African Literature, Afro-Asian Literature, Australian Literature, Canadian Literature, Caribbean Literature, Indian English Literature etc. Similarly, phonetics and phonology, syntax and government, morphology and morphophonemics, semiotics and semantics, linguistic and/or literary pragmatics, linguistic and/or literary stylistics etc on the one hand, and discourse analysis, text linguistics, the history of the language, language teaching etc have come under this umbrella term ‘English Studies’.
Other emerging areas today include Oriental Literary Theories, Oriental Literary Criticism, Creative Writing, Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies and Ethnography, Feminist Linguistics, Feminist Theories And/Or Poetics, Feminist Literature And Studies, LGBT Studies, Science Fiction, Cultural Studies, Literature of Protest and Resistance, Popular Literature, Tribal Studies, Diaspora Studies, Dalit Studies, Adaptations of Literare etc and last but not least English Language Teaching. The list continues to grow longer with the addition of newer areas at regular intervals. English Studies have, thus, far ceased to symbolize British hegemony, but represent the aspirations of the people in former British colonies through postcolonial and other literatures.
Keeping in mind the emerging trends and job opportunities the department keeps on updating and revising the curricula, teaching-learning practices and evaluation system ensuring that the students of the department are capacitated to carve a niche for themselves as well as contribute to the nation-building.
Dr Parul Popat
Associate Professor & I/C Head
Department of English
Sardar Patel University
Vallabh Vidyanagar