The gates of MOP Vaishnav College for Women remained open even after college hours on Thursday. As students walk past the entrance and through the college’s atrium, moonlight spills on the college’s mascot, colourful lights highlight the MOP Hall of Fame, and the scattered photographs in the hallways remind them of various milestones the college has achieved.
Each brick of the campus tells a story, an experience to share. All these moments are relived at the 33rd College Day Celebration at the campus’s open-air theatre under a mystical moon and shining stars. “It has been a memorable journey of establishing an educational institution from a sapling to a massive tree,” said Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, secretary of the college.
True to his words, the college initiated with three courses in 1992 and today offers 17 undergraduate and seven postgraduate programmes, along with several research programmes. The college has recorded continual growth and is aiming to become a university. “We are an arts and science college now and would eventually like to become a university. In that process, we need to consolidate and grow, and now that is the action: consolidate our existing strengths to build a competitive edge. We want to become truly world-class in terms of infrastructure, pedagogy and research. That’s the focus,” shared the college principal, Archna Prasad.
To stay relevant while accomplishing their plans, the educational institution collects feedback from its stakeholders, industry experts, and organisations that come in for hiring. Archna added, “Some suggestions are worthy of implementing immediately, and for some, we find a fit to include it into our organisation. For example, we know that artificial intelligence is the way forward.
At the same time, we don’t want to start something that might become the norm. Hence, we intend to start a subject, with university permission, on computer science with artificial intelligence.”
While working towards the betterment of existing policies and striving to achieve these additions, the institution is leaving “a legacy of creating quality woman power. It’s always about empowering the next generation of women to balance all roles and be,” she mentioned. This also comes naturally to the college authorities because they strongly believe that no problem is a problem but an opportunity. Archana said, “We will continue to believe this and move forward as long as this institution exists because now it is built into the fabric of this institution.”
This optimism is reflected in the students’ achievements, too. With minimal on-campus sports facilities, the students, for more than 20 years, have retained the Padmashri Dr. Sivanthi Adityan Rolling Trophy. Taking this as an example, chief guest Basuthkar Jagadeeshwar Rao, vice chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, shared, “In sports, you don’t have to have very sophisticated infrastructure. You just have to have a commitment to accomplish with almost zero facility. How can you do this with zero facility? This is the model that India needs — low or zero cost and high achievements. MOP does that, and this institute represents an interesting model for the country and the world.”
He added that the college’s model is a good template for the rest of the country to follow, wherein you are more or less self-sufficient, run your affairs without any external help, and carve out your pathway. “The ultimate purpose of an educational institution is to transform a human from a physical existence to a spiritual one. The person should transcend himself or herself from a limited thinking apparatus to a more expansive apparatus. If educational institutes can begin and succeed in doing it, then I think the real purpose of education can be foreseen.”
What began as a small institution, has grown into a powerhouse of academic and extracurricular achievements. With every new milestone, the college adds another chapter to its legacy of excellence.