Shashikala Wanjari, Vice Chancellor of SNDT, talks to Namrata Devikar about new skill-based courses at the Pune campus for empowering women.
The university has completed the journey of 101 years. Now, what is the vision for the future?
The aim of our university is to impart knowledge and education to strengthen women. On the occasion of 100 years, we plan to give scholarships to young and talented girls from lower economic sections of the society in the year 2018. We have constituted a committee and appealed people to donate a minimum of Rs 25,000 towards the university. This scholarship will be based completely on merit. Similarly, we have organised a conference on International Communication Association, Asia Regional Conference, at Juhu campus from December 14 to December 16. The theme this year is 'Communications Research in the Digital Age', opening doors for women to explore the digital space through research.
Are there new courses in the pipeline? Also, is there any new campus coming up dedicated to imparting skill-based courses for women?
We have a campus in Palghar for girls from the tribal belt. This campus imparts skill-based courses among women there. We have various initiatives in the pipeline, which we will start from the coming academic year. One of our new initiatives is health care centre and academy staff centre to strengthen our staff and innovation centre for innovations and research, which will be started on the campus itself. We also have proposals to start the sports academy and healthcare institute.
Is university planning to start any new courses at Pune campus?
We are planning to introduce Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Pune campus from coming academic year. Details of this course are yet to be finalised as it has not got approval from the management council. But a course in Mass Communication and Journalism (MJMC) and Broadcast Journalism will be started in 2018.
Are there any new projects started in collaboration with industries?
We realised that a lot of women are not able to get employment even after having degrees, for example Bachelors of Commerce (B.com). Hence, in order to address this, we have started new projects in our Pune campus where we train students for the post of account executive or office administration. We have started a course in collaboration with Tech Mahindra. The company has issued certificates to the participants and majority of the students who have completed this course have secured a job.
