For many years, Seshadripuram College has been a safe choice for students in Bangalore. This is perhaps a dividend for having a good brand name, as the college has a significantly high cut-off percentage.
Forty years on, Seshadripuram College stands conspicuously on the main road in downtown Seshadripuram, one of the vintage areas in the city. Run by Seshadripuram Educational Trust (SET), the college is housed in a large building complex that is also home to the pre-university college, high school and evening college. The college is permanently affiliated to Bangalore University (BU) and is accredited ‘A’ grade from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). “In the last 40 years, there has been a lot of stress on quality education in our college,” says M Prakash, the principal.
Courses
The college offers four undergraduate programmes in commerce, business management, science and arts. There are five combinations offered for the BA programme, while the BSc course comes with four combination options. “We have seen that the demand for commerce has only been increasing. With an intake of 425 for our BCom course, we receive on an average seven applications for one seat!” exclaims Prakash. To accommodate this demand, the college has asked BU for an extra section in BCom, which will increase the intake to 525. This year, the college is starting a UG programme in computer applications and a master of commerce course. “When it comes to admissions, our policy is clear. We promote merit and that is why most of the students coming here have not less than 92 per cent marks.” Clubs and activities
Extracurricular activities involve a healthy mix of academics and recreation. While the college has a Centre for Gandhian Studies and a Centre for Vivekananda Studies, it also has an Eco Club that undertakes eco-friendly activities and advocacy initiatives. “Each department in the college has its own annual fest and programmes,” says Prakash. The commerce and management department organises the flagship Lakshya management fest every year. The annual college day is celebrated under the banners ‘Tarang’ and Kala Sinchana. They also celebrate ethnic day once a year as ‘Desi Habba’. The college has devised a unique way to keep students connected to the college library. It has introduced the concept of a ‘book-kit’. Freshman students are supplied a set of books that they would require for their semester. Once that semester is over, the students return the kit and borrow another one for the subsequent semester.
Faculty and systems
Seshadripuram College has its own entrepreneurship cell, placement cell, internal quality assurance cell and other systems in place. The college uses the Attendance and Course Tracking System, a virtual mechanism of monitoring a student’s attendance and the completion of portions by teachers. “There are 18 aided and 69 unaided faculty members here. Of them, we have 12 PhD scholars,” Prakash adds.
In fact, this is a college where internal circulars are not issued. They are announced by the principal himself over the in-house announcing system. “All that I need to do is to pick up my landline, dial a classroom and announce the message. This way, we save time, and students often take instructions seriously as it is coming from the principal himself,” he smirks.
Future plans
Enhancement of infrastructure is one of the plans for Seshadripuram College. The college is all set to start a new master’s in mass communication with media equipment and studio. Mahesh, a second-year BA student who aspires to become a journalist, is happy with this as he plans to pursue a similar course. Another goal that the college has is to work towards autonomy. “It will work out well for us as SET has a group of institutions. Gradually, the plan is to acquire a deemed university status as we are confident of shouldering such a responsibility. However, autonomy may take a while as we do not have an independent building. We are working on it,” Prakash explains, before adding that the college has a “very dynamic” website, www.spmcollege.ac.in.
— bharath@newindianexpress.com