Bangalore: Jesuit University for All Jesuit Educational Institutions Mooted

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network -  Bangalore

Bangalore, Sep 3: A Jesuit University for all educational institutions run by the Society of Jesus in different parts of the country, especially in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and other major cities in the country is under active consideration of the Jesuits, according to Fr Sunith Prabhu, Director of Bangalore’s St Joseph’s College of Commerce.

Answering a question at a press commerce in the St Joseph’s College of Commerce on whether the college was considering any move to get affiliated to the Christ University in Bangalore if the controversy over the status of the deemed universities, presently pending before the Supreme Court, was resolved, Fr Prabhu said the college, being an autonomous institution affiliated to the Bangalore University, had no such plans and instead ''there is proposal to form a Jesuit University for the educational institutions run by the Jesuits in the country.”

The St Joseph’s College of Commerce, which is accorded the status of an autonomous institution, is empowered to frame its own syllabus, set questions papers and conduct examinations but the degrees are awarded by the Bangalore University. The College runs three undergraduate programmes in B.Com, BBM and B.Com (Travel and Tourism) and also has a number of Post Graduate Diploma and Certificate programmes in various fields of Commerce and Management. NAAC has accorded ''A” Grade to the College.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recognized the institution as a ''College with Potential for Excellence,” and the Bangalore University has granted the College recognition as a Centre for conducting Research Programmes leading to MPhil and PhD degree programmes from the year 2010. However, the Bangalore University has not sorted out the problems with regard to allotting Ph.D .students, which is a stumbling block, said College Principal Dr Lily N David.

Dr David said the UGC has sanctioned Rs 1.5 crore to the College for its research and academic programmes, of which Rs 75 lakh has already been spent.  The undergraduate courses in the College were immensely popular and the Placement Service facility instituted by the College has helped in over 3,000 students getting jobs even before they pass out. Some of the leading companies like Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, Google, De Shaw, HP, Deloitte were among the participants in the campus recruitment drives every year.

''Fears over recession and economic slowdown has not affected the placement service programme,” she said.

Fr Sunith Prabhu said the College has been organizing national seminars every year since the last 10 years and a two-day seminar on ''Higher Education 2020: New Strategies for Empowerment and Growth” would be held on September 6 and 7 at the College auditorium.

Principals, Vice Principals, IQAC Coordinators, teaching faculty and research scholars from all over the country were expected to participated in the two-day seminar, which will be inaugurated on September 6 by Prof I M Savadatti, former Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University, and Dr R S Deshpande, Director of Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, will be delivering the key-note address. Dr Xavier Alphonse, SJ, eminent educationist and Chairperson of ICRDLE, Chennai, who is also an UGC member, will be chief guest at the valedictory session on September 7.

Of the over 85 technical seminar papers received, 46 have been accepted and presented during the seminar. All the seminar papers will be presented in a compendium, which will be released during the inaugural session, Seminar Convenor Dr A M Sheela, said adding there will be four technical sessions.

The St Joseph’s College, a leading minority educational institution in Bangalore, was established by the French Missionaries in 1882 for imparting higher education to all deserving students irrespective of caste, creed and community. It was subsequently handed over to the Jesuits and the Bangalore Jesuit Educational Society has been managing the college and other educational institutions run by the Society of Jesus in Bangalore.  A separate department for commerce education was established in 1949, which became an independent college as the St Joseph’s College of Commerce in 1972.