Alert To The Needs Of Present Times

Meha Mathur Sep 13, 2022

Miranda House, which has bagged the first rank in NIRF rankings sixth year in a row, is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Inaugurated in 1948, it is alma mater to a galaxy of notable political leaders, authors, actors and artists. Proud of its rich legacy, the college is equipping its students with 21st Century knowledge and skills. In an interview to BW Education, Bijayalaxmi Nanda, the principal, delineates the progressive and proactive approach of both teachers and students. Excerpts:

What goes into the making of a great institution and what efforts is the college putting in to various dimensions?

I think the making of a great institution is about sustaining its legacy of the institution. We are a liberal arts college and the first natural sciences college born at the dawn of Independence in 1948 and catering to women of India, daughters of Independence, so to say, and then continuing it till today.

The second facet is sustaining the energies of the teachers, students and non-teaching staff and bringing it all together. The third aspect I would like to emphasise is a democratic and decentralised functioning which is non-hierarchical, compassionate and empathetic, reflecting all diversities.

The fourth would be that we are a DU constituent college completely supported by UGC. We are under the DU umbrella system and have the benefit of getting guidance. Also, at the core of our planning, it’s the students that make for the college. So, once a Mirandian, always a Mirandian.

While continuing the legacy, how is the institute geared towards 21st Century needs?

The college has always been very alert to the needs of the present times. Be it research and publications or outreach and inclusivity, Miranda house has been striving for excellence and this is not just for principals but for teachers and students too.

Some of the work is being led by faculty, especially those who are doing excellent research; some of it has been led by students and some of it by the principals. So, there are multiple stakeholders involved.

We have that kind of mentoring which is seen mostly in women’s colleges where teachers and students have symbiotic bonds. When young faculty come in, they bring in their energies and the older faculties mentor them.

And we strive for excellence while maintaining a sense of humility and being accessible and wanting to learn from the dynamic changing learning environment.

Now we have the National Education Policy that has brought in a number of new learning for us. The online learning was another way for us to learn.

Multidisciplinary research has been at the core, and now it is a vision of the NEP, so we are able to cater to the needs of the time. The contemporary understanding of how we should move forward has always been there in the vision and mission of the college. Largely what has helped us is the Upanishadic maxim of the college which says ‘Swadhyayann pramaditavyam’ which emphasises self-introspection and reflection. So, self-learning has been encouraged going beyond the classroom for teachers and students.

This particular ranking is reflective of the colleges’ performance during Covid times, so how did the college cope with Covid and what mechanism did you evolve?

We simulated the offline on the online immediately. We already had Academy app which helps put all our lectures online even before the online classes began, so we were able to go from offline to online in a concerted way. The second thing that we did was to develop a stringent Covid protocol and to create a Covid help desk to reach out to one and all. This was all done by students.

And the third thing that faculty members did was, whoever we could not reach out to, we started talking to them on the phone and couriered their notes. We supported the staff too, especially the essential staff.

But when we went completely offline we developed some training programmes regarding how to be online on platforms.

So, there was a lot of hand holding at different levels. We also created a counselling desk. The counselling and the Covid helpdesk got a lot of media attention because we were able to provide services all over India.

For Miranda the beautiful environment is very important so we did 360-degree videos for students and this was an idea of some of our students. We also created audio repositories visually challenged students.

There were webinars and online talks on a regular basis and we tried to stimulate our students as much as possible. Our science teachers did a number of activities so that the virtual learning virtual labs became the order of the day. While students were elsewhere, they would get a sense of the lab. Also, our tutorials continued with stringent protocols. And DU provided us support in admission and other things.

While the college is known for its liberal arts and pure sciences, how is it providing for skill-oriented learning?

You are right about the need for skill development or skills hubs. And we are working on it. Right now, skill development and employability are the two main focus areas along with outreach and inclusivity. We have initiated an incubation for startups; we are also in collaboration with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Yojana which is about creating skill hubs and we are looking at green bag making and at artificial intelligence.

The university curriculum also has a number of skill enhancement courses, so they also feed into it. We have a placement cell which is looking at skill development and career counselling. It has been able to place students in increasing numbers, with its network with the corporate and other groups, and graduate outcomes is one of the parameters in NIRF rankings.

But a large number for students want to do PhD and do pure research and they do get a scholarship. So, we also see that as a skill.

I would also like to add that it’s time for corporates to look at colleges and provide support, not just financially but by way of mentoring. Our alumni can also come and encourage students.

How will NEP impact the teaching-learning process in colleges?

The NEP is a visionary step and it is providing students multiple choices, which the choice-based credit system also talked about. But this is far more in depth.

With multiple exit and entry options, the new system will help students move out and come back to us if they are working for a year or moving elsewhere. The academic bank of credit, if it comes in, will facilitate exchange programmes in a much better way, even abroad, which we were not able to do earlier. Students could only come for summer, not for a semester.

The other thing is research and that’s a huge opportunity but also a challenge because the teachers have to be geared up for doing and conducting research. Multidisciplinarity has also increased and our multidisciplinary research centre is already established. Then there is the Indian knowledge system, including languages. So, we are looking at a language lab and initiating understanding around Indian knowledge systems and linking it up with certain kind of employability. We have Sanskrit, Tamil, Punjabi and Bengali (though to a lesser extent due to work load) apart from Hindi and English. So, I think that NEP is providing us a way to strengthen and increase our capacities.

What are some of the major infrastructure additions done in the last five years?

In the last five years we have set up a Multidisciplinary Research Centre and a Centre for Environmental Studies and Disaster Management. The third is a North East Regional Research and Resource Centre, which is supported by the North Eastern Council, Government of India, and which hones the talents in all the eight sister states in the north eastern region. And we are also in the process of operationalising a community radio. Our language lab is also coming up.

What are the challenges that you as a college are trying to overcome?

The first challenge is to increase the capacity and capabilities of our faculty members. The second will be infrastructure - bringing about resource mobilisation. I’m not just talking about financial resources but human resources. The third challenges is to continue to sustain energies, to be hopeful and to learn in the process. These are challenges, but these will also be opportunities to learn.