St Aloysius College- 140 year Saga of Forming Men and Women For and With Others…….
Mangaluru: St Aloysius College (Autonomous) belongs to a network of educational institutions administered by the members of the Society of Jesus, a religious order which runs schools, colleges and universities in more than 105 countries in the world. The members of the order, popularly known as Jesuits, have acquired a reputation for excellence in the quality of education. Some of the distinguished Jesuit institutions of higher education in India are St Xavier’s College in Kolkata, St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, Loyola College in Chennai, St Joseph’s College in Trichy, Xavier Institute of Labour Relations (XLRI) in Jameshedpur, and Xavier University in Bhuvaneshwar. These and many other highly acclaimed centres of learning are managed by the Jesuits and deeply rooted in Jesuit values of commitment and excellence.
In more than four centuries of their existence, the Society of Jesus has gained the public image and reputation as a democratic, charitable and not-for-profit organization committed to creating a transformed society with the collaboration of professionals and leaders. The focus of Jesuit education has always been and will ever continue to be academic excellence and development of the integral personality of the students. To put it succinctly, the aim of Jesuit education is to form citizens imbued with competence, conscience, compassion and commitment, who, in turn, reach out to the weaker and marginalized sections of humanity empowering them to enhance their quality of life and contribute to nation building.
A word about the origins of the Society of Jesus and its impact on higher education is pertinent. In 1540, nine post graduate students of Paris University, under the leadership of St Ignatius of Loyola, came together to establish a well-knit group of “Friends in the Lord” and called themselves the Companions of Jesus, later, to be named the Society of Jesus. From its inception, and thanks to the persistent demands of the rulers of the times, Jesuits were drawn into education of youth. Their name and fame spread to different countries of Europe, and their increasing numbers helped them not only to establish schools and colleges in different cities of the continent but also to evolve a formal and systematic method of studies called the Ratio Studiorum, a manual of education that influenced the educational philosophy and practice for nearly four centuries. The “magis”, the Jesuit word for relentless pursuit of excellence, was the formula that prompted the Jesuits and their students to engage in innovative research and discovery in the fields of science, mathematics, astronomy, geographic explorations, study of languages and study of world religions.
From LKG to PhD, St Aloysius Institutions offer them all. The 140 year old College has emerged as Mangaluru’s premier educational hub with lakhs of students who have passed out of its portals, earning laurels in varied fields. St Aloysius College became the first institution in the coastal region to completely go online for admissions since 2017.
Undergraduate Programmes:
The college has 7 undergraduate programmes. It provides Bachelors of Arts with 15 combinations, B.Sc with 16 combinations, B.Com with 8 batches and BBA with 4 batches including embedded and Vocational programmes like ACCA, CA and Industry Integrated, BCA with two batches, B. Voc with 3 Programmes and BSW.
Postgraduate Programmes
Presently, there are 21 postgraduate programmes across disciplines along with research studies. They are: MA (English), MA (Economics), MA (Journalism and Mass Communication,) MSc (Corporate Psychology), MSW, MSc (Biotechnology), MSc (Chemistry), MSc (Analytical Chemistry), MSc (Physics), MSc (Mathematics), MSc (Food Science and Technology), MSc (Biochemistry), MSc (Food, Nutrition and Dietetics); MSc (Big Data Analytics), MSc (Software Technology), MSc (Bioinformatics), M.Com, M Com (Finance and Analytics); MBA and MCA.
The College takes pride in offering 5 Postgraduate Diploma and 3 Diploma Programmes along with more than 15 skill oriented certificate add on Programmes. These additional certificate programmes can be pursued along with the regular Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes which will add value to students’ academic attainment.
The Konkani Institute, established in 1980, is another example of the efforts of the college to promote research in Konkani language, literature and culture. It also offers Diploma and PG Diploma in Konkani.
The Biotechnology Finishing School Scheme offers specialized training for select students with hands on training in the cutting industries.
In an attempt to promote research among students, the College has collaborated with Tumkur University to start and Advance Research Centre. Besides, three Departments have been recognized as Research centres by the Mangalore University. The encouragement given to research has enabled the staff members to publish research articles in the UGC approved journals.
In April 2020, St Aloysius College responded quickly to the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic and launched an exclusive e-learning portal (sac-elearning.com) of its own. The main aim of launching the e-learning portal is to offer various types on online activities to engage the staff and students to follow continuous learning in spite of the pandemic. More than 50 free online certificate courses were offered to students and the public. More than 4,000 students and teachers from more than 300 institutions from India and abroad took part in these courses. This initiative has enhanced the public image of the College at the global level. In addition, the College has been organizing several webinars on very contemporary topics during the pandemic and that initiative has received global recognition. The exclusive institutional e-learning portal, on the other hand, will continue to serve the educational and career growth needs of student community across the globe.
Autonomous Status:
The College has awarded autonomous status in the year 2007. Autonomy has offered better exposure to the teachers and institution has to function like a university. Similarly, the administrative staff have been groomed to support the system. The college has been taking care of the financial and housing needs of the staff through registered cooperative credit and housing societies.
·Autonomy has been fully utilized in offering regularly updated, contemporary and relevant curriculum. The syllabus have been under constant review and undergo a change once in every three years. All stakeholders including the industry and the alumni have been involved in framing the curriculum.
· Autonomy has provided us an opportunity to adopt examination reforms. Evaluation has been continuous and objective. The wide range of innovative teaching methods introduced after the advent of autonomy has paved way for different evaluation strategies. The examination calendars, the process of the examinations, certification and the timely announcement of the results have added greater credibility to the system.
·The College has been gifted with erudite and excellent teaching faculty which is on par with any higher education institute of international repute. The College has 256 teaching staff and 166 administrative, multitasking support staff. 78 members of the faculty have PhD as the highest qualification and 53 staff have registered and pursuing and are at various stages of their research work. More than 130 of them have qualified the eligibility test like NET and K-SET.
Milestones:
·In 1880, 9 Jesuits landed in Mangalore at the request made by Mangaloreans to establish an institution of quality higher education. The college started in a small rented building.
· The college was affiliated to the erstwhile Madras University in 1882.
·Subsequently, the college was shifted to its own building and campus on Idya Hill in the year 1885.
·The present Administrative Block was constructed in 1954.
·The college was affiliated to Mysore University in 1956, and it’s in 1980 that the college was affiliated to Mangalore University.
·The college celebrated its centenary celebrations in 1980 in a grand manner for which our former President of India, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the chief guest and witness.
·In 1986, realizing the need for women’s education, St Aloysius College which was exclusively a men’s college became a co-educational institution by admitting girl students which was the need of the hour. Reading the signs of the time, the Jesuits embarked on this sensitive decision and today, it takes pride in accommodating 50-60% of the annual admission of girl students. This decision has made a significant difference in the status of education among women in this region.
·The college is the first to offer Konkani as a second language at the undergraduate level since 1992 in the state.
·In its constant thrust on being relevant and locally grounded, the college started Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) as the first PG programme in 1999.
·In the year 2002, the college campus witnessed the arrival of our beloved former President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for the inauguration of the Information Technology Block.
·The college was recognized as the Nodal College for staff training under Mangalore University.
·An exclusive Xavier Block for Science and Research was built in 2003-04.
·As the college felt that it is ready for an assessment by external agencies like the NAAC, it subjected itself to the rigorous exercise of the first cycle of NAAC Accreditation in 2005. The college received a high score of 86.7%.
·The College started “St Aloysius Institute of Education” in 2006 realizing the need for training teachers with excellence at the secondary and higher levels of education.
·The renewed vigour propelled the college to embark on several Post Graduate Programmes in the subsequent years. During 2005-06, several programmes were launched to commemorate the 125 years of its existence and serious preparations started for applying for the Autonomous status.
·The College has seen tremendous growth after it became autonomous in 2007. The college offers a variety of courses across disciplines both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
·Autonomy granted to the institution has provided greater impetus not only for introducing diversified programmes but also greater emphasis on research and social extension activities.
·The college also is under Grant-In-Aid (GIA) scheme of Government of Karnataka.
The distinctive achievements of the college in recent years have been a testimony for the excellence attained:
1. The college has been accredited by NAAC. In each of the three cycles of accreditation, the college attained one of the highest grades awarded by NAAC. In the third cycle of NAAC in 2015, the college was awarded “A” Grade with a CGPA of 3.62 out of 4.
2. Our ranking in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) conducted by MHRD, Government of India has been 44 among all the Colleges in India in 2017. It has always remained within the best 150 Colleges at the national Level.
3.The College has been brought under 2 (f) and 12 (B) of UGC regulations.
4.The College has been declared a “College with Potential for Excellence” by the University Grants Commission since 2009.
5. The “STAR College Scheme” conferred by the DBT, Government of India has been upgraded to “STAR Status” in 2016.
6.The University Grants Commission has awarded “DDU Kaushal Kendra” to the College for offering Bachelor of Vocational programmes (B.Voc.) in 2015.
7. Karnataka State Government, which had sanctioned “BTFS Finishing School” earlier, has now selected (2017) the college under the scheme of “BiSEP” [Biotechnology Skill Enhancement Programme].
8.The college was brought under grant–in-aid by Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka
9 The College has uploaded the data of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)-2016-17, MHRD, Statistics Division, Government of India.
10 The College was ranked 3 at the All India level among all Colleges under the Campus Swacchta Scheme. This has been a rarest of recognition for the green initiatives in the campus.
11. The College has been recognized as a Centre of Research capacity Building under UGC-Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s developing Economy (STRIDE- COMPONENT I). We are one among the 34 College that have been chosen by UGC for this Scheme. The College has proposed the research Project on the Study of the Cultural diversity of Coastal Karnataka.
12. Under the PARAMARSH Scheme of the UGC, the College has been selected to be a modal mentor College to support 5 NAAC non-accredited Colleges in training and preparing them for NAAC accreditation.
Facilities:
· The institution has excellent infrastructural facilities with two centres extending over 50 acres of land. Adequate number of classrooms, well-equipped laboratories, cutting-edge electronic gadgets, the high-speed internet connectivity with Wi-Fi facility and adequate libraries, both at UG and PG levels have been widely acknowledged by various expert committees.
· The College has more than 7000 students at various levels. Our students have excelled not only in academics but also in cultural, sports & games and many other fields of performance. The college has all the wings of NCC and NSS units. In fact, our college is the only one college in the university area to have all the three full-fledged wings of NCC.
· The emphasis on skill development, personality development, language proficiency along with academics has enhanced the employability skills. There have been many add-on programmes which add value to the degree programmes. The creditable achievements of the students include passing the NET examinations, research entrance examinations of reputed institutions of excellence and placements.
·Students have been offered facilities like sports, recreation, photocopying, health check-up, disabled friendly structures, drinking water and sanitation. There are separate student hostels in each of the centres for both men and lady students. The student cooperative store caters to the stationery needs of students.
·The Vision and the Mission of the college lays thrust on social consciousness. Only a compassionate and empathetic person can be instrumental in the inclusive development of the society. In this direction, the social extension activities undertaken by the college deserve a special mention. The college has created a separate Centre for Social Concern (CSC), which regulates, monitors and promotes social empowerment activities.
· Each undergraduate student has to fulfill social service activity as specified for 20 hours in each of the first two years. The programme is titled “SAHAAYA”.
·Postgraduate students have to spend a minimum one week in a remote village selected for this purpose under “Village Exposure” programme actually staying with families accompanied by teachers.
·Radio Sarang 107.8 FM, the Community Radio reaches out to the surrounding areas of Mangalore for 16 hours a day in five different local languages through several programmes promoting and spreading awareness on local culture, language, health & hygiene, economic and social aspects of life. The community radio has bagged multiple National Awards for promoting local language and culture.
. The college has a sprawling and aesthetically designed campus with several green zones and eco-friendly systems.
· The world renowned paintings in the college chapel attract thousands of foreign and domestic tourists. The college museum with rare collections is an added attraction.
Alumni – SACAA :
The college has a vibrant Alumni base engaging itself continually in the projects and activities of the college. SACAA, the St Aloysius College Alumni Association has been responsible for bolstering the infrastructure, public image and liaising with the Alumni networks all over the world. The College feels proud that some of the excellent talents in leadership, entrepreneurship and social service of national and international repute have been the products of this college. Sri K S Hegde, Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha; Sri George Fernandes, eminent political leader; Sri Justice Santhosh Hegde, Former Lokayukta; Sri K V Kamath, BRICS Bank Chairman; Dr K V Rao, International Physicist; Sri T M A Pai who has been instrumental in establishing the renowned Manipal University; Sri K. K. Venugopal, the present Attorney General; Sri Aravind Adiga, Man Booker prize winner; Sri Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX; Dr K Ullas Karanth, leading Conservation Zoologist; K L Rahul, Cricketer; are a few personalities among many others who have made a mark in public life by living a life that is typically Aloysian.