St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, Bangalore
Currently celebrating its post-centenary silver jubilee, SJC has graduated over 100,000 students who have made great contributions to the development of Indian industry and businessI
f Mumbai has St. Xavier’s, Delhi St. Stephen’s and Chennai MCC (Madras Christian College), Bangalore has St. Joseph’s. Bangalore’s most highly rated liberal arts college — St. Joseph’s College (SJC) of Arts and Science (estd. 1882) — is currently celebrating its post-centenary silver jubilee (125 years). The agenda for the year long celebrations is impressive. The first event, an exhibition titled ‘Science for Society: Another World is Possible’ held from January 2-6 drew over 25,000 visitors including Karnataka’s deputy chief minister. A three-day national seminar on environment science — Biovistas — and a two-day workshop on measuring quality in higher education have been slated for February and March with the schedule of events for succeeding quarters — which will be action packed — still under preparation. "Since its promotion in 1882 by the French Foreign Mission Fathers, St. Joseph’s College together with its affiliated St. Joseph’s School — which has since become 14 separate English medium schools with an aggregate enrollment of 15,000 pupils — has graduated over 100,000 students who have made great contributions to the development of Indian industry and commerce. We have been consistently ranked among the top ten colleges in the country by National Accreditation and Assessment Council and in India Today surveys. This has been essentially because of our industry-oriented approach to education and our commitment to quality education. In acknowledgement of this, the University Grants Commission has identified St. Joseph’s as one of the 47 ‘Institutions for Potential Excellence’. Moreover last year St. Joseph’s College was granted full academic autonomy by UGC with powers to prescribe its own syllabus and award its diplomas. In 2005 St. Joseph’s students won 28 Bangalore University gold medals for academic excellence," says Fr. Ambrose Pinto a political science Ph D of Mangalore University, who took charge as principal of the college in 2003 after serving for three years as executive director of the Indian Social Institute, Delhi.
In 1937 confronted with a shortage of faculty within the order, the French Fathers transferred the college to the Society of Jesus aka Jesuits "known world over for their colleges and schools". Founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius Loyola together with a group of nine university graduates, today the Jesuit order manages over 4,000 schools and colleges spread over five continents (including 120 schools and 31 colleges in India) with an aggregate enrollment of 2,000,000 students.
Sited on a compact 10-acre campus in the heart of the garden city, SJC has an aggregate enrollment of 2,500 including 300 postgraduate students instructed by 150 faculty members of whom 60 percent are Ph Ds and 80 percent M. Phil degree holders. Prominent alumni include Sabeer Bhatia, founder of Hotmail; renowned physicist Dr. Raja Ramanna; K. Ramaswamy, president, FKCCI (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry); M.P Prakash, deputy chief minister of Karnataka; T.S. Krishna Murthy, chief election commissioner among numerous others who have risen to apex level positions in government and industry.
To deliver the holistic, well-rounded education that St. Joseph’s is obviously proud of, the college has constructed an impressive infrastructure. Its 29 departments are housed in four spacious buildings which host 60 well ventilated classrooms, 32 student and six research laboratories. In addition the college houses a multi-level fully-wired seminar hall, two museums, three audio-visual rooms equipped with state-of-the-art LCD projectors and acoustics, an observatory and two chapels.
The college’s three libraries house a collection of over 78,000 volumes and 400 journal subscriptions and several CD-ROMs. To encourage extra-curricular education the college has promoted 21 associations encompassing physical science, social science, economics and microbiology clubs. There is also a strong focus on sports with facilities for almost all individual and team games.
As is well known in Bangalore’s academic circles, successive SJC managements have been less than satisfied with the arts and science syllabuses prescribed by Bangalore University. Therefore for the past 20 years additional honours courses in microbiology, space sciences, journalism and media studies and genetics, among others are being offered. These add-on honours study programmes, which require 120 hours of study beyond class hours, are held on Sundays, public holidays and/ or in the evenings. Moreover students are actively encouraged to take part in social welfare activities with the college hosting the Centre for Social Action, which works with various NGOs in the city.
Against the backdrop of a generally permissive academic environment in which Bangalore University’s once vaunted reputation has plumbed new depths, Pinto has drawn up an ambitious blueprint to benchmark St. Joseph’s with globally best institutions of higher education. Under a perspective plan a new Rs.3 crore research centre will become operational on the existing campus this year, new combination study programmes will be introduced and an entirely new fully residential postgraduate education and research campus beyond Bangalore is on the drawing board. "Now that we have been given the freedom to design our own syllabuses, we plan to enter into partnering agreements with industry and research institutions for student and faculty exchanges. Henceforth the focus will be on training students to meet the needs of the job market," says Pinto.
Instead of resting on its well-deserved laurels, 125 years on SJC is in the process of re-inventing itself. It’s an initiative which is pregnant with great socially beneficial possibilities.
Admission and fees
St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore (est. 1882) offers 27 six-semester (three-year) undergraduate, six four-semester (two-year) postgraduate and 28 honours (six months) study programmes in the arts and sciences. A Christian minority institution, 50 percent of the capacity is reserved for the Christian community. In the general category, students are admitted on the basis of best Plus Two examination results.
Study programmes. BA, B.Sc, BCA (bachelor of computer applications), MSW, MA, and M.Sc degree programmes are offered in the arts and science faculties.
Tuition fees: Annual fees for the study programmes vary from Rs.8,000 for aided subjects to Rs.16,000-40,000 for unaided/ subjects.
For further details contact the Principal, St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, P.B. 27094, 36, Lalbagh Road, Bangalore 560 027. Tel: 080-22211429; Fax: +91 80 22245831. Website: www.sjc.ac.in.
Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)
Queen Mary, University of London
One of the very few city-based campus universities in the uk, queen mary offers a wide range of undergrad and postgrad programmes to over 10,000 students
Located in east London, Queen Mary (estb.1885) is one of the largest multi-faculty colleges of the University of London. Formed by the merger over the years of four older colleges — Queen Mary College, Westfield College, St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College and the London Hospital Medical College — Queen Mary was recently ranked 14th amongst 100 British universities and 100th out of 10,000 universities worldwide by the Times Higher Education Supplement. Moreover according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s most recent performance indicators, almost 95 percent of Queen Mary students find employment or further study options within six months of graduation. The college also ranks in the top 10 for student employment performance for non-specialist higher education institutions in the UK.
One of the very few city-based campus universities in the UK, Queen Mary offers a wide range of undergrad and postgrad programmes to over 10,000 students including 2,000 from overseas. It employs 2,600 faculty and has an annual income of £120 million (Rs.984 crore). Although the size and range of subjects covered by the college gives it the characteristics and facilities of a university in its own right, it is a constituent college of the federal University of London which comprises over 40 institutions with 120,000 students. This affiliation means that undergrad and postgrad students of Queen Mary have access to the wide and varied academic research facilities of London University. Moreover its students are awarded University of London degrees.
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ondon. The multicultural capital of the UK, London (pop. 7.5 million) is an education in itself. It’s the political, commercial, cultural, fashion hub of Europe and as some die-hard Londoners argue, the greenest capital of Europe. From the famous Hyde Park, Hampstead Heath and elegant squares of Bloomsbury to the British Museum, Natural History Museum and Tate Gallery, there’s plenty to see and do in London. From Queen Mary’s main Mile End campus situated in the heart of the East End, students can get to any of these or other central London landmarks in less than 20 minutes by the city’s underground trains.C
ampus facilities. Queen Mary is spread over three campuses in Mile End, Whitechapel and Charterhouse Square. The Mile End campus is peaceful and secure with landscaped squares and a host of facilities on one site: cafes, bars and restaurants, the Students’ Union, canal-side housing in the Student Village, bank, bookshop and travel agency. Academic facilities are housed in pleasant, architecturally diverse buildings, ranging from the Victorian Queens’ Building to the modern, award-winning Informatics Teaching Laboratory and a striking new building that houses an integrated learning resource centre alongside state-of-the-art laboratories. The Whitechapel and Charterhouse Square campuses are home to the Barts and Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. The Centre for Commercial Law Studies is also based in Charterhouse Square in purpose-designed accommodation, including an extensive intellectual property law library.
Queen Mary’s award-winning main College Library is a focal point of the Mile End campus. It houses over 600,000 volumes and with its specialist medical libraries, provides electronic access to over 9,000 periodicals. The college is fortunate in being sited close to the greatest concentration of national and specialist libraries in the UK. Queen Mary students can use many of these libraries, as well as others in the university such as the Senate House Library, which is of special relevance to arts and social science students.
On-campus sports facilities include top quality squash courts, a large sports hall, which has recently undergone a £100,000 (Rs.82 lakh) refurbishment and a Bodyworks multi-gym with aerobic and weights facilities. Moreover the Queen Mary Students Union runs a number of bars, two convenience stores, and a café. There are also more than 100 student clubs and societies.
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dmission. All applications for undergraduate degree courses at Queen Mary, including those from mature students, should be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). The institution code for Queen Mary is Q50. To obtain a 2006 entry UCAS application form, write to UCAS, Rosehill, New Barne Lane, Cheltenham GL 52 3LZ; e-mail: appreq@ucas.com.The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into its undergrad programmes is successful completion of class XII. The qualifying percentage is 75+ for ICSE/ CBSE board students and 80 + for state board students. Students who have achieved between 60-75 percent have to complete Queen Mary’s entry level foundation programme. Moreover students must prove proficiency in the English language by writing internationally validated tests such as IELTS or TOEFL.
For further information contact Admissions and Recruitment Office, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS; e-mail: admissions@qmul.ac.uk/ international-office@qmul.ac.uk; www.qmul.ac.uk.
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ccommodation. The completion in 2004 of the Queen Mary College’s 1,000 room Student Village has created the largest self-contained campus within London University with a total of nearly 2,000 on-campus rooms. The Student Village is located on Mile End campus and all 1,000 rooms have single en-suite facilities and are arranged in flats and maisonettes housing between four to nine students with each flat or maisonette sharing separate kitchen/ dining facilities. A shop, launderette, large common/ meeting room, café, bar, central reception and security office are all on-site. Moreover all rooms are centrally heated and offer computer data connections. Rents range from £93-107 (Rs.7,600-8,750) per week.There are about 800 other places in self-catering accommodation on or near the campus at Mile End, ranging from small houses for four to eight students to much larger residences housing between 40 and 125. Rents for single rooms range from £80-107 per week.
Queen Mary students also have access to lodgings in fully catered intercollegiate halls in central London, which are owned by the University of London. Fees for single rooms are £106 per week, inclusive of breakfast, evening meals and gas and electricity bills.
Additionally there is a range of private housing in the East End area surrounding the campus and if students prefer private accommodation, the college’s residences office will help find suitable accommodation.
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egree programmes. Queen Mary offers a wide range of undergrad and postgrad programmes across the faculties of arts; engineering and mathematical sciences; law and social sciences; and natural sciences, in addition to the Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry (see box).
Scholastic options at Queen Mary
Students can choose from over 200 undergrad degree programmes spread across four departments. They include:
Faculty of Arts. English and drama, School of modern languages, French, German, Hispanic studies, linguistics, Russian, history, politics, film studies (Tuition fee per year: £8,680)
Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Computer science, electronic engineering, materials, mathematical sciences (£10,500)
Faculty of Natural Sciences. Biological sciences, chemistry, physics (£10,500)
Faculty of Law and Social Sciences. Business management, economics, geography, law (£8,680)
Queen Mary also offers a wide range of postgrad (Master’s and doctorate) programmes across the faculties of humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, science and engineering.
Living expenses including accommodation are approx £8,000 per year
NB: £=Rs.82
Summiya Yasmeen