BANGALORE: St Joseph’s College of Commerce (SJCC), Bangalore, is a dream college to many. Having celebrated its platinum jubilee of Jesuit presence just two years ago, it is now the most renowned college in the city offering Commerce and Business Management courses at both UG and PG levels to close to 3,000 students.
SJCC has now increased the intake of first years by one section, ie, by 75-80 students. “There were almost 4,500 applicants for 450 seats. So we decided to take more students this year,” says Nirmala Joseph, Vice-Principal of the college.
The college has not introduced any new disciplines yet, but have some courses in mind that they may launch in the future. “We are thinking of bringing in BCom (vocational) and BSE (stock exchange) courses for students to choose from, among others. But nothing has been finalised yet,” says Nirmala. These two courses, she thinks, will be up sought after because of the brand value of the college. She adds that two years ago, Bcom Travel and Tourism had been added to the curriculum and it received a huge response from students.
For PG students, the college offers MCom and Master’s in International Business. Apart from these courses, the management which believes in extracurriculur activities, offers credit courses for students to take up. “It ranges from web designing to security analysis; they can be chosen according to the student’s interest,” says Nirmala.
All these facilities are available for a fee of `55,000 approx for BCom Travel and Tourism; regular BCom would cost anywhere between `33,000 to 45,000 and about `65,000 for BBM. Students who excel at academics can also avail scholarships of `5000. Students representing the college at sporting events are eligible to avail scholarships as well.
After graduation, students are placed in companies like TATA Motors, Goldman Sachs, Ernst and Young and Amazon. However, very few students opt for placements as they either take up family businesses or continue higher studies.
The college maintains a good communication system within the staff members (they help each other out with the class schedule). “Teachers are qualified to teach both BCom and MBA. There are separate HoDs for both courses, but teachers are pretty much common. Arjun Sundaram, a BCom Travel and Tourism student, says, “The opportunities that SJCC offers are bigger than any other college and I think I’ve made a smart choice by joining here.”
Internal assessments are conducted at regular intervals in the form of quizzes, presentations and projects. Students are grouped in remedial classes if they don’t fare well in the internals. Their classrooms come with projectors besides the screens to facilitate the learning experience.
“The dress code is followed strictly from Monday to Thursday. Students are expected to wear formals only. If any student fails to follow the dress code, then s/he will be sent home. On Fridays and Saturdays, students have the freedom to wear anything that isn’t obscene,” says Raja Sadhwani, an alumnus and a teaching staff at the college. Arjun adds, “I think it’s necessary to have a dress code in colleges. We don’t have a problem with it because we have two days off to dress casually.”
The college occupies a prime space of 2.6 acres on Brigade Road, admits Nirmala, “But the campus is well-maintained by the cleaning staff as well as the students,” she says. Students are told to keep the campus clean during the orientation and the management has installed CCTV cameras to keep a watchful eye on the corridor.
The campus has been beautified with trees and shrubs with Principal Father Daniel Fernandez taking the lead; the college uses solar lights wherever possible and has installed vermi-bins across the campus. The waste collected is first segregated and then disposed. Students are asked to conserve water as much as possible. Rain water harvesting is also done to maintain a good ecosystem.
The college also has a clean and well-maintained canteen that offers free food to economically weaker students. The prices are subsidised, vouch the students. The entire campus also is Wi-Fi enabled. The library is also well-equipped. “The library is very good, but during exams we don’t get any books as there are only few copies of it,” says a student. On the sports front, the college is equipped with basketball and football courts. And there’s a gymnasium as well in the basement, for the fitness freaks, who have to register to use it at the beginning of the academic year.
Alumni and current students believe that SJCC stands out for the immense love for the world outside their own. “We have a fest exclusively for women, planned by us boys, called Eves,” says Pawan Kumar, a BCom TT student. He also says that a marathon is held annually and other colleges can also participate in the sports activity.
“Fiesta is another fest where we bring underprivileged children to our campus just to give them a feel of what a college is like. We play games and have activities for them,” he concludes.
— supriya.krishnamurtiy@gmail.com