We provide skill based education that would amplify the employability of our students through various vocational courses, skill enhancement programs and STEM Learning. The Vocational Centre of Mata Sundri College, along with the newly established Departments like Computer Science and Statistics take a unique approach to promote skill based learning and provide opportunities for STEM based Learning. Our objective is to create a unique pedagogy that perfectly blends traditional syllabus with relevant marketable skills which have proved to be a major attraction for students.
In today’s world, it is very important for women to be financially independent and pursuing a successful career is the only clear path towards the same. Our Vocational Centre offers Certificate and Diploma Courses in Computer Applications, Tour and Travel Management, Textile Designing and Foreign Languages which gives our girls a secured career. Along with this, a wide range of Skill Development counselling sessions are organized by all departments to ensure that our students get exposure and opportunities to acquire relevant skills to shine in the job market. Our placement cell has successfully established a strong bridge with several companies resulting in several successful campus placements and internships. STEM Learning and Vocationalizing has made opportunities available to them and enhanced the canvas of our students’ employability.
At Mata Sundri College for Women, we believe that regular curriculum needs to be enhanced with incremental advantages and for a successful career young women need special and professional skills. Thus, we take a unique approach to provide a wide choice of vocational, skill and STEM based learning. This has allowed our students to create a robust resume that gives them an extra edge in the job market. In achieving this, our Vocational Centre has been a seminal platform that has consistently offered courses that trained innumerable girls who went ahead to have lucrative job offers. Several skill enhancing field exposure activities and workshops have been arranged for the benefit of students. All Departments along with Placement and Internship Cell organize Career Counselling Sessions and Skill Based Counselling Sessions that further help our students to excel in the highly competitive job market. The college has organized several 2 credit and 30 hours short term courses for skill enhancement. For instance, we organized a certificate course on stock market in collaboration with the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Along with this we also now run a fully functional Entrepreneurship Cell ‘Uddham’ that is committed to nurture the entrepreneurial dreams of young students and prepare them to launch their own start-up ventures in future. Departments like Computer Science and Statistics promote STEM learning and we are committed towards matching the students’ skills with the needs of the economy. This is in consonance with our vision of women empowerment.
Owing to our determined efforts towards vocational and skill enhancement courses and STEM learning, our college got opportunities to create more career options for our students. It also allowed them to gain prestigious internships that we hope would pave their path towards a bright professional future. In the academic year 2019-20, the Travel and Tourism Management programme of the vocational centre signed an MOU with a major company like Interglobe Solutions ensuring placement for students. Numerous Placement and Internship Drives were organized and our students were placed in reputed companies like Deloitte, Infosys, TCS Ltd, Wipro HR Services India, ISA Global, Amazon, TravClan and Coral Knowledge. In the year 2019-20 alone 100 students were selected for internships in different companies.
The pressure faced by students for engagement with regular curriculum is very high. Despite these challenges the faculty encourages them to pursue vocational courses and skill based learning. Additional infrastructural as well as human resource augmentation and support will allow us to strengthen our efforts in this regard.
The worth of any academic institute is decided by the number of scholars it produces who conduct groundbreaking researches. We have taken the worth of research very seriously and have created an appropriate atmosphere through a unique program like “Research Mentoring” where teachers mentor students in Research Skills . Another programme which is collaborative in nature is our Peer Mentoring initiative which allows students to mentor their peers and exchange ideas. We have also provided ample opportunities for both our students and staff to nurture a keen interest in various interdisciplinary research activities.
Research is an important component of higher studies. It is essential to create a research oriented environment where students learn to pursue research as an activity. The Research Mentoring Program initiated by the college across all departments dedicatedly works to achieve this goal. In addition, interdisciplinary research activities like seminars, conferences and workshops enable us to nurture research skills of both students and staff. To further strengthen collaborative learning, we also encourage our students to learn from each other through our unique Peer-Mentoring programs. Through this program we enable our students to collaborate with each other and take the teaching learning process beyond the classroom.
Our practice of promoting research initiatives and conducting Peer Mentoring amongst undergraduate students is unique as it allows the students to enhance their critical thinking through exchanging ideas with fellow students. The program of Peer Mentoring has allowed students to become scholars and experience learning in a very different atmosphere. It offered a refreshing role reversal where final year students could mentor the freshers. The benefit of this program has been two fold. Students also learnt the skill to articulate their ideas in a manner that is cohesive and comprehensive. The first year students on the other hand witnessed a teaching–learning process that was not tied to books or teachers and enjoyed the freedom to engage in a scholarly debate with their fellow students. This created an amicable inclusive academic environment while promoting the spirit of teamwork.
Our ‘Research Mentoring’ programme is committed to promote interdisciplinary research amongst students, ‘Research Mentoring’ witnessed students being supervised by an experienced teacher for a full-fledged research project. Students from many departments participated in this program and produced well researched projects. This programme has witnessed a very enthusiastic participation from both students and teachers. As a part of this initiative, research on a diverse range of topics was carried out which is a testimony to the fact that given a conducive environment students could produce well-researched papers under the expert supervision of our faculty members.
Along with these innovative initiatives, the college organised a myriad of conventional activities in the form of workshops, talks, seminars and conferences which benefited both our faculty and students. The students were given a generous glimpse of the rigour that research involves. In addition, certain disciplines like Psychology, Elementary Education and Commerce offer dissertation /projects as an option in discipline specific electives. To inspire students we also invite academicians from across the globe to share their experiences. To upgrade the research skill of teachers, we encourage them to attend Faculty Development Programs, Refresher and Orientation Courses. Teachers of our college are also recognized supervisors of M.Phil. and Ph.D. scholars.
Promoting research is a rigorous activity that requires dedicated time and effort from both teachers and students. While our teachers are forever willing to go that extra mile, the time and efforts required in research can sometimes become challenging for students. Our more persistent problem is often the paucity of funding agencies to support more such activities.