The inception of the department of Statistics dates back to the late fifties but it was not until the sixties that it took off under the able guidance of Late Prof. N.G. Das, Prof. Arijit Choudhury and Late Prof. U.K. Dasgupta. The department offered only general courses at that time. It was since 1996 that the department started offering both General and Honours courses. Among the many committed teachers who served the department were Prof. Amit Kumar Ghosh (retired in 2012) and Prof. A. M. Goon of Presidency College, who taught here for almost a decade as a visiting faculty.

Majority of the students after completing their graduation in this department join leading universities all over India like University of Calcutta, University of Delhi, University of Pune, IITs and ISI`s for post-graduation. A large section of our ex-students is now pursuing doctoral research in foreign universities like Purdue, Florida, North Carolina and others. Some of them have also been placed in national and multinational companies in the field of insurance (actuaries), finance, risk management, portfolio analysis and development of statistical software.

Mission

Traditionally, Statistics has been defined as a body of scientific methods used for collection, classification, presentation, analysis and interpretation of numerical data originating from diverse fields. The success of the subject therefore lies in its application. Perhaps there is no branch of scientific knowledge where Statistics has not left its imprint. The mission of the Department is to lay the foundation of intellectual leadership in the subject that is of direct benefit to the state and country at large. To this end the department is committed to offering a well-rounded academic program, the specific goals of which include:

• Developing a theoretical insight into the subject.
• Developing applied skills aided by computational techniques.
• Familiarizing a student with specialized statistical packages and software thereby preparing him/her for the competitive job market as well as interdisciplinary research.
• Upgrading the knowledge base and skills of both the student as well as faculty through seminars and workshops for quality enhancement.