UGC Committee on Autonomy Status inspects College

The University Grants Commission (UGC) appointed Autonomy Status Committee came on a day’s visit to St Josephs College (SJC) on Monday as part of the renewal of Autonomous status to the College. The expert committee consisted of Prof Afshar Alam, Chairman, Dr Suhas Pednekar and Dr Vaishali Pradhan, members, Prof B.C. Prabhakar, University nominee member and Dr K.P.Singh, member secretary of UGC. The assessment began with a seminar during which Fr Ambrose Pinto, Principal of SJC, along with the heads of various departments and staff officials took part.

“The seminar featured a documentary about the College. Later, there were discussions and clarifications about examinations, academic syllabus, libraries, staff remuneration, laboratories and admission procedures. This assessment is for the renewal of Autonomy to the College and we have done our best to showcase the works of our College,” Said, Dr Latha Radhakrishnan, Head of Economics Department.

The expert committee visited all the departments to assess and evaluate their working. They observed the PG and the Research centre, especially Micro Biology, Mass Communication and Chemistry labs, as well.

“This visit by the UGC officials is an important milestone for the College. The assessment will go on for the day, where the expert committee will evaluate and assess our works. There were suggestions given by the officials to the College and we will work on it shortly,” said, Dr Mohan Das, Department of Chemistry, who co-ordinated the entire exercise.A short cultural programme was also held to show case multi-culturalism of the College.

“The inspection is going on all well as of now, We are preparing for the interaction with the expert committee, where we will exhibit the works produced by our students under our guidance,” said, Dr Subhashini, Lecturer, Department of Economics.

A member of the expert committee said, “Overall the experience at St Joseph’s was satisfactory.”

- Priyanka A and Navami, I M S Com

“Technology must help improve quality of life”

“All our technology should be aimed at improving the quality of life. The purpose of science is to include those who are excluded from development,” said Fr Ambrose Pinto, Principal of St Joseph’s College (SJC).

He was speaking during the inauguration of the Academy lecture workshop conducted by the Botany Department here on Friday. The topic of the seminar was the ‘Recent molecular biological trends in infectious diseases and cancer.’

Reflecting on importance of the workshop’s focus, Fr Pinto added, “Cancer research is the frontier area affecting human kind today.”

Students from 17 colleges across the city attended the event. Dr Betty Daniel, Organising Secretary of the event, said, “The purpose of the seminar is to expose our young minds to the recent developments in molecular biology. Students can use the information to innovate ideas and execute them in future research.”

The speakers at the event were renowned scientists and researchers Dr Ravi V from the Dept of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, Dr Sudhir Krishna, from the Dept of Cellular Organisation and Signaling, NCBS, Dr Ravi Kumar from Xcyton Diagnostics and Dr Annapoorni Rangarajan from the Dept of Molecular Reproduction, IISc.

“The comparison between the old research and the new findings was fascinating. The workshop was interactive and interesting. We were given questions to think about for the next day’s session, so we have more to look forward to,” said Graham Wungrampha, a student of III MCZ from SJC.

“The topic of discussion is what drew me to the workshop. It was a very enlightening event that shed light on the landmark developments in cancer research,” said Sophia P from T John College.

- Parinitha and Vigneshwaran I M S Com

SJC winners at ‘Exalted’ fest

The College won the rolling trophy for the fourth consecutive year at the ‘Exalted’ Gospel Fest on September 15. The event was hosted by Bishop Cottons Women’s Christian College.

Ten winning titles out of the 11 events were bagged by the college. Christ University was the runners up at the event.

Kiran Jeevan from the MSW Department of SJC was the chief guest of the event. In his address he said, “Such fests should be conducted by the churches in Bangalore; however, Christian colleges in the city have come forward to take up this initiative.”

All events were based on the theme, ‘Arise and Shine’. Sixteen colleges participated in the fest.

- Supriya, I MS Com

College wins prizes

SJC has won many prizes in the intercollegiate competitions hosted by M S Ramaiah College and St Johns College.

The students took active participation in most of the events.Andrew Kutty(IIIrd EPS) bagged I place in Quiz competition . G Shyam(III BCA) was recognized as the Best Instrumentalist in Western Music.

The College came first in Street Dance and Collage competition held at M S Ramaiah College.

Malemngauba was awarded Best Male Singer at St Johns College.

“We have the best students,we give the best training and we win,”said Fariyal Shaikh, the cultural committee co-ordinator.

- Navami I M S Com