Institution Profile

St. Xavier’s High School, Mumbai

Since it admitted its first batch of boys in1869, this Jesuit promoted kg-class X school has produced an illustrious roll call of alumni. Today it is struggling to maintain its reputation

St. Xavier’s High: transformed social profile

"In keeping with the Jesuit ideal of education, this school accords special care to developing the imaginative, affective and creative dimensions of students," says Pinto a maths graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, who took charge of St. Xavier’s High, a boys-only (kg-class X) day school with an aggregate enrollment of 2,430 students instructed by 74 teachers, in 2000.

Once housed on a sprawling site, St. Xavier’s High suffered a carve-up of its campus in the 1960s when a large plot allotted to it was taken over for civil defence. Still, the school enjoys an extensive playground fringed by trees and separated from the college campus by an open-air public auditorium and a large building housing the State Vocational Guidance Board.

The roll call of school alumni is illustrious. All the scions of the Godrej and Mafatlal business families studied here as did Mohammedali Currim Chagla (first Indian chief justice of the Bombay high court and Union minister for Education); cancer specialist Dr. Ernest Borges; bureaucrat J. B. D’Souza; Archbishop Simon Pimenta; scientist Dr. Homi Sethna; judges Bhaktavar Lentin and Madhu Kania; super cop Julio Ribeiro; architect Charles Correa; legal eagle Soli Sorabjee; former army chief of staff Gen. Sunith Rodrigues; internationally renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati; banker Deepak Parekh; cricket maestro Sunil Gavaskar and renowned artist Francis Newton Souza, who was expelled for chronic absenteeism.

Pinto admits that over the past three-four decades the school’s social profile has changed and the city’s haute bourgeoisie now enroll their offspring in more elite institutions. "Currently most of our pupils are drawn from the immediate neighbourhood and since this is a poor neighbourhood we get a grant-in-aid for the secondary section, which enables us to charge very modest tuition fees. This, in the ill-considered opinion of some, lowers academic standards," says Pinto.

However he is happy with St. Xavier’s academic record. For two years in a row, Outlook (December 10, 2001 and December 16, 2002) ranked it among the city’s top four, and best among SSC schools. In 2003, the school achieved a 100 percent pass result in the class X SSC examination after a gap of 37 years. And the results of the last academic year — 182 St. Xavier’s students wrote the state board’s class X exam — were almost as good: 99.45 percent.

The school began its illustrious innings in the second half of the 19th century, an era of momentous change and development for the port city. The Roman Catholic bishop of Bombay, Anastasius Hartmann requested the clergy of the Society of Jesus in Rome for help and a group of five priests arrived in Bombay in 1853.

The very first school they established was St. Mary’s School (at Mazagaon) in 1857. Following the bishop’s wish that a school be opened in the Fort area, the priests enrolled the first batch of 115 boys on March 19, 1860 into the ‘Kalbadevi School’. In 1866, following a land grant from the Bombay Presidency government, the priests established the school on its present premises. The newly christened St. Xavier’s High School, admitted its first batch on July 23,1869.

Fr. Baptist Pinto

Nevertheless despite a chronic funds crunch, over the past century the school has been able to build a strong enabling infrastructure for students. It boasts its own computer lab with more than 30 PCs, and physical training, games and sports facilities. Few are aware that as far back as 1874, the school had cricket clubs (along denominational lines as was the prevailing practice then), with Hindu, Parsi and Christian teams and sports day has been an annual feature since 1900.

"Every year over 600 students apply for the 180 seats that become available in primary school and it is quite a nightmare both for parents and our admission committee to select the most suitable candidates," says Pinto, pointing out with quiet pride that in extra-curricular and sports activities, the school has attained an all-time high reputation.

An indicator of the high premium Xavier High’s management places on holistic extra-curricular education is the pride of place accorded to the school’s unique Natural History Museum, the largest in western India after the Chhatrapathi Shivaji Sanghralaya (aka Prince of Wales Museum). Spread over corridors on four floors of the school, the museum houses over 2,300 bird specimens, 250 varieties of bird eggs and 75 bats, amphibians, reptiles and mammal specimens.

Looking ahead into the near future, the school management’s emphasis will be on holistic learning, teacher motivation and training and infrastructure upgradation. "Each floor will have movable audio-visual equipment next year. I would like to start media education and encourage the use of appropriate technology to enhance learning effectiveness. Moreover, teachers will be specially trained to address the learning difficulties of students. In short, we’ll continue the tradition of providing developmental and transformative education to our students. After all, we have a long tradition and reputation to maintain," says Pinto.

Ronita Torcato (Mumbai)

Australian National University, Canberra

Established by an act of parliament in 1946, anu is widely acknowledged as the sixth continent’s premier research and teaching institution of higher education

ANU campus scene: excellent ratings

Strategically located in Canberra, the national capital, the Australian National University (ANU) is widely acknowledged as the sixth continent’s premier research and teaching institution of higher education. The Australian Good Universities Guide 2005 awarded it a five star rating for six categories including prestige, staff qualifications, graduate starting salaries and placements. Moreover the China-based Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education’s Academic Ranking of World Universities has ranked ANU ahead of every other university in the southern hemisphere two years (2004 and 05) in a row.

Promoted by an act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1946, ANU was established as the country’s first full-time research university without any teaching responsibilities. Its mandate was to undertake "postgraduate research and study both generally and in relation to subjects of national importance". However, subsequently in 1960 following its amalgamation with the Canberra University College, it incorporated the latter institution’s undergraduate study programmes. Following another amalgamation in 1992 with the Canberra Institute of the Arts (comprising the Canberra School of Art and the Canberra School of Music), music and art study programmes were incorporated into its syllabus. Throughout these mergers and acquisitions, the research institutions of the parent ANU of 1946 vintage maintained their distinct identities under the umbrella of the Institute of Advanced Studies. Currently ANU’s seven faculties offer a wide range of undergrad, postgrad and doctoral programmes (see box).

Sited on a leafy campus ANU has an aggregate enrollment of 13,500, of whom 8,700 are undergrad and 4,600 postgraduate students. Moreover it boasts more faculty with higher degrees, more ARC Discovery grants per staff member and more research expenditure per faculty member than any other Australian university.

"ANU continues to be a unique institution within the Australian university system. It is well placed to continue and build upon its role as a major centre of research in the natural, physical and social sciences and the humanities. It values its reputation as an innovative research and teaching university," says Prof. Ian Chubb, vice chancellor and president of ANU.

Canberra. The capital of Australia, Canberra (pop.3.12 million) is an exquisitely designed city nestling in a picturesque bushland setting. With a history spanning just 80 years, Canberra combines the infrastructure and facilities of a modern city with the culture and vibrancy of a national capital. Designed by Chicago architect, Walter Burley Griffin, it is centred around a scenic lake bearing his name. Numerous parks and reserves dot the capital and careful integration of urban and natural environments has earned Canberra the sobriquet of "the bush capital".

In addition to being the political hub of the nation, the capital’s intellectual and cultural life is enhanced by the activities of the diplomatic corps, with representatives from over 120 countries located in the city. Inevitably ANU is a neighbour to several national institutions including the high court of Australia, the National Gallery, the War Memorial, and the National Science and Technology Centre. The city is also blessed with an excellent public transport system and a network of bike paths. The average winter temperature is 12.1oC while in summer it’s 27oC.

Campus facilities. The ANU campus is self-contained with low-rise buildings set in 145 hectares of parkland, covered with exotic trees, attractive gardens, open spaces and soft lawns. Its state-of-the-art facilities include well-equipped lecture theatres, laboratories and first class computer labs. Three main libraries are supplemented by the law library and five science libraries. Together they house over two million volumes and provide access to CD-ROMs.

Indoor and outdoor sports facilities include two squash and 12 tennis courts, a sports recreation centre, and a rowing and sailing clubhouse. The university union is the focal point of student life. It includes the union shop, meeting places, cafes, union bar, post office, activities rooms, games room, bakery, supermarket, dental clinic, unisex hairdressers and a pharmacy.

Admission. The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into ANU’s undergrad programmes is successful completion of Plus Two while for postgrad it’s a first class bachelor’s degree. Additionally students must submit proof of proficiency in English language. An IELTS score of 6.5 or a TOEFL score of 570 is acceptable. Completed application forms should be accompanied with certified copies of academic transcripts, English language test results and an application fee of AUS $100 (Rs.2,400).

Applicants who don’t meet the university’s entry requirements may upgrade their skills through one of the following programmes offered by ANU: the Foundation Studies Program or the English Language course. The application deadline for 2006 entry is May 1. For further information contact Admissions Office, the Australian National University, Pauline Griffin Building, Ellery Crescent, Acton Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. Ph: 612 6125 5594; Fax: 612 6125 0751; e-mail: admiss.enq@anu.edu.au; website: www.anu.edu.anu.

Accommodation. On-campus accommodation comprises a diverse range of self-catered and catered halls of residence and colleges. All halls and colleges offer single fully furnished, centrally heated and carpeted study bedrooms to men and women students. Other common facilities include computer labs, libraries, television and fully equipped laundries. Students who wish to live off campus have the option of renting flats and houses. For further details visit www.accom.anu.edu.au.

Degree programmes. ANU boasts seven faculties, which offer an extensive range of undergrad and postgrad degree programmes (see box). Postgraduate study programmes are offered by the university’s prestigious Institute of Advanced Studies, which spans the biological, chemical, physical, medical and earth sciences, engineering, astronomy, environment, and maths.

Scholastic options at ANU

The Australian National University offers a wide range of undergrad and postgrad programmes across seven faculties. They include:

Arts. Archaeological practice, development studies, European studies, international relations, policy studies, digital arts, music, jazz, philosophy, new media arts, art history and curatorship

Asian studies. Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Hindi, Japanese, Vietnamese, Asian studies, security analysis, study of religions

Economics and commerce. Actuarial studies, commerce, economics, finance, international business

Engineering and information technology. Telecommunication, mechanotric, photonic, manufacturing and management, materials and mechanical, sustainable energy, electronics, digital, environmental, information technology, software engineering

Law. Bachelor of law

Medicine. Bachelor of medicine and surgery

Science. Biotechnology, computational science, medical science, photonics, philosophy, psychology, forestry, computational science, global and ocean studies, resource and environmental management, science communication

For a complete list of programmes log on to www.anu.edu.au.

Tuition fee (annual): Undergrad: AUS$ 14,700-20,400; Postgrad: 16,800-21,600

Living expenses (per month): AUS$ 673-1,185

AUS$=Rs.24

Summiya Yasmeen