Distinctiveness
In the Strategic Plan for the period 2017-2022 prepared by the college, it was resolved to improve the quality of one domain in particular, among others, that of empowering students through skill enhancement by a strengthened Research Ecosystem and Value added/Add-on Courses.
In pursuit of an education that builds a holistic and confident personality, that sharpens a spirit of enquiry and hones innate talent, the college has always promoted skill enhancement of students. This aims to increase their employability as well as train them for entrepreneurship by igniting an interest in knowledge increment through research orientation and additional courses.
Defining and recognising the importance of research and out of the curriculum knowledge and skill development - The College set up 6 centres of excellence addressing different domains such as career opportunities, human values, gender studies, e resources, extension activities and a Research Centre. It also set up an Add-on Courses Committee which is part of the Career Opportunities and Career Counselling Centre.
The Research Centre looks at all aspects of research orientation of students and faculty be it in terms of providing training or in terms of research projects. It's Student Wing, Khoj also conducted and continues to organise numerous workshops/talks on research methodology, methods, resources etc The add-on courses committee engages actively with students' need for courses outside the curriculum that will help students once they graduate.
Research projects- The number of research projects undertaken in college by both students as well as faculty has seen a steady rise. Over the last five years, 78 faculty research projects and 55 Student projects were initiated in the college with a total funding of Rs. 91 lakhs. More than 650 students were either engaged in student projects or as research interns for faculty projects and hence got a golden opportunity to gain an invaluable first-hand experience of the process of research and contributing meaningfully to the faculty research output.
The Research projects have seen some very substantial results. A series of books entitled 'Rediscovering Delhi' and 'Rediscovering the City in Covid Times', an outcome of student-faculty project, have been published. The research orientation has been of advantage to students applying for higher studies within and outside the country.
The college's recent publications also include three books on Pedagogies by English/Hindi/Sanskrit departments. In addition to college magazine, departments/societies also have magazines/newsletters to encourage scholarly writing among students and train Student-Editors. The faculty has an e-research journal called Perspectives (ISSN:2583-4762) and has seen the most well reputed scholars and other personalities contributing to it.
The college also increased its involvement with other colleges and universities through schemes like Vidya Vistar Scheme. The collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi Govt College (Pondicherry University) has stimulated research through joint seminars such as the National Seminar on "Tribes: Learning and Unlearning Tribal Culture" and the resultant book "Tribes of India: Realities and Representation" therefrom.
Training though workshops/ talks etc - At the outset, the college organised lectures on research funding for faculty on funding options and organisations which provide funds for research. The college has conducted numerous workshops/FDPs/webinars on research methodology, research methods, copyrights issues, publication metrics etc.
Value added/Add on courses- In the last five years, more than 4000 students have benefited from 123 add-on/value-added programs. The courses have ranged from ICT, finance, Language, Financial Modelling gender and disability, Philosophy, Entrepreneurship to Life skills and Yoga to employability enhancing courses such as Translation, Travel & Tourism, Improving Mathematical Skill, Foundation classes for preparing students for competitive examination, SSB Preparation, Campus to Corporate etc Consistent rise in the number of such courses and student participation is very encouraging and the college continues to strive to expand skill enhancement opportunities for students.
Clubs and Societies- The College has always been conscious about providing different platforms to students for developing their skills and talents. A large number of clubs and societies nurture the interests of the students. In the last five years, some of the societies that have arisen from student interest in certain areas such as entrepreneurship, writing, diplomacy and policy making, finance and investment, performance, fine arts, etc are Logos-The English-Literary-Society, Kalakriti- The-Art-Club, Impreneurs- The -Entrepreneurship-Cell, Aamdani- Finance and Investment Cell (FIC), MUN Society, Jhankaar- The Folk Dance Society, Enactus, Spicmacy, Girl Up Devi (renamed as Girl Up Nitara).
Infrastructure augmentation- In order to facilitate the research and add-on courses activities, infrastructure augmentation was done through construction of a Research Room, an e-resources centre room and increased access to e-resources through INLIBNET as well as through purchase of research-related books. Kindles were also purchased by the library to allow access to a larger number of titles. Add on courses are offered online to enable students to manage their regular classes without any disturbance; the college has purchased online handles such as G-Suite, Zoom to allow easy and uninterrupted virtual classes for the add on courses/value-added programs.
Building up a critical acumen through research and add-on courses can be seen through a steady rise in the number of books and other publications emerging from research by students and faculty. A steady increase in the number of students getting admission to higher studies both within and outside the country is a positive outcome. The college continues to upgrade its efforts towards strengthening research culture among its faculty as well as students along with quality consciousness of the research work so produced.