Educationendeavours. All our core initiatives in the
non-academic corporate sectors have been
designed to complement our academic
programmes so that students can find
internship, practical training and job
placements after graduation or in areas
that allow us to vertically integrate with our
strength in education. Our corporate focus
has been and will be to provide quality
industrial, technological and business
oriented solutions to our entire team.Q. Again, how will you deliver this
quality?
Infrastructure, while important, is just the
environment. Our undiluted emphasis on
the best teachers is what will assure us of
this quality. We are looking at a mix of
academicians and working professionals
to deliver the right mix of academic rigour
and professional values to our students.
We have received 13000 applications for
faculty positions and at present, we have
about 45 full-time faculty members. Our
teacher student ratio is at 1:15 right now.
Our overall focus will be on skill
development. Towards that end, we insist
on participation in extra-curricular
activities, which we enable through clubs.
We have a vibrant campus life already with
music, photography and literature clubs
already very active. The media lab brings
out a newsletter, and I am amazed at the
self motivated innovative mindset of our
students.
They are owning our philosophy and
coming at 8 am sharp to attend classes,
after which they play and plan their other
activities with the same drive and force.
Our sports teams are building up, with
cricket, badminton and basketball being
played. We allow students from other
institutions to access our sporting facilities
as well. Our hostels are abuzz.Q. Any other plans that we haven’t
talked about yet but are important
to you?
We do wish to start programmes in
Distance Education as well as Continuing
Education for mature students. Let’s see.Q. A lot of plans in a short time
span, isn’t it?
I believe good things happen suddenly.
Also, as a group we have always taken risks
and tried to do what others haven’t. If you
know, we started with the Institute of
Computer Engineers in Chuchura,
Hooghly, which was the first computer
training programme in West Bengal. Once
privatization was allowed, we went on to
open institution after institution, college
after college in West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha.
We have developed 100 campuses in 35
years. But this is different.Q. Can you tell us how?
This is from my heart.... There is a larger
impetus here - which is to honour and
empower the girl child. SNU and what I will
make of it is my contribution to society and
towards the cause of women empowerment.
SNU’s initiatives have an unflinching
commitment to quality and that would
remain our over arching strength. We will
continue to evolve with the needs of the time
and strive for a perfect today and a better
tomorrow.Q. To end, tell us about your journey.
This has been a journey of 35 years... A
journey in which I have been part of the
educational journey of millions of students.
I started off as a counsellor, selling
prospectuses, and today here I am.
From 6 students to 6 million, from
Counsellor to Chancellor - that is my
journey.Q. What courses does SNU offer?
Any enterprise has to be sustainable, and so
we offer all the traditional courses in fields
of Engineering and Technology,
Management, Pharmacy and the Social
Sciences. But what we are excited about is a
whole basket of new programmes in new
fields such as Sports Management, Design
Management which includes Fashion,
Interiors as well as Architecture.
In Media Sciences, we offer Advertising
and PR, Writing for Media. We have
courses in the Performing Arts as well as
Fine Arts. We also teach foreign languages
through centers in mofussil towns as well
but this is the main hub.
Q. That’s a really diverse range. Does
the Group have the expertise to
provide top-class education in all of
these?
We have enough years in the industry to
know that we cannot offer quality with a silo
mentality - collaborations and associations
are the way we can enrich what we offer our
students.
In Sports Management, we are looking at
a range of collaboration opportunities, for
the School of Design and Fine Arts, we are
collaborating with Arts Acre. Also, several
hospitals have extended support for our
School of Nursing, as this will address the
huge gap of qualified and dedicated nurses
that exists. We also plan to start several
paramedical Certificate programmes and
Diploma courses to provide support to the
healthcare industry.
Our emphasis is on capitalizing on the
strength we have in the academic sector to
help our students flourishing their future