Shrimathi Devkunvar Nanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College For Women: Fostering Collective Change In Women's Education
By Dr. R Geetha, Principal
Today, driven by the pursuit of equal education rights and the dramatic growth in the economy, developing countries like India are witnessing an upsurge in female enrolment in higher education. But, until the mid-90s, providing women with access to secondary and higher education, let alone one of a quality standard, was a thought beyond consideration.
While many men of that era were averse to the idea of an educated woman, the late Nanalal Bhatt - a visionary leader - set off on a journey to foster a revolution by instituting a women's college in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu - Shrimathi Devkunvar Nanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College (S.D.N.B.V.C) for women.
The college has been instrumental in enabling empowerment and holistic development of women through its plethora of quality educational courses, skills training, and consistent placement opportunities.
Fuelled by his donation of 10 acres of land coupled with a significant investment from Cork Industries Charities, the college rose from the ground up as the first women's college established in the district in 1968 to what it is today. Nearly 7000 women students are pursuing Art, Science, and Commerce courses in the college. S.D.N.B.V.C is an Autonomous college, affiliated to the University of Madras, holding an A+ accreditation from the NAAC.
"S.D.N.B.V.C has emerged as one of the most promising colleges for commerce and computer science in India, providing comprehensive courses in both Aided and Self Support streams.
The commerce stream in the college is in high demand. Nearly 4000 out of the total current strength, belong to the Commerce stream. Run on an industry-aligned curriculum, the Commerce stream comprises nine specializations in the UG programs and three specializations in the PG Commerce programs.The curriculum empowers the students to ace the professional exams for the CMA, CA, and ACS. The PG programs focus on training students in pursuit of Research in Commerce and Finance.
Apart from the regular academic courses, S.D.N.B.V.C mandates around 35 certification courses and various skill enhancement training programs, including domain-specific skill training, life skills, digital skills, soft skills, and more. To mention a few, the Arthavidhya program, in which students learn deeply about business processes accounting through a self-learning model, and 'Vivac' - The Computer-based Practical Accounting program covering Taxation, Corporate Compliance, Tally and Advanced Excel are a couple of skill development programs offered to Commerce students.
There is a dedicated board of studies and academic council, which comprises academic, professional, institutional, and industry members to provide the latest insight catering to the industry's needs", shares Dr. R Geetha, Principal, S.D.N.B.V.C. Being equally popular in S.D.N.B.V.C, the Computer Science stream has 5 specializations in UG including computer science with Data Science, Artificial intelligence, Cognitive systems, Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), and MSc Computer Science in PG.
MSc in computer science is the most renowned among the PG programs, owing to its research-intensive endeavors. The state-of-the-art computer labs on the campus house about 1000 systems with advanced software, and there are separate labs for data science. The students are encouraged to take up e-learning courses through Swayam, MOOC, and NPTEL to induce flexible learning while also adding extra credits to a student's academic credentials. Apart from the mandatory training, the 25+ certificate courses in computer science and its IoT club edify the students about revolutionary technologies like robotics, 3D printing, app development, and cloud infrastructure. The institute has conducted a Centre of Excellence Programme on Cloud Practitioners (AWS), which has opened new avenues for certifications and in-demand cloud jobs. The college's recent initiative to create a center for IoT and robotics also acts as an added advantage.
S.D.N.B.V.C hires only qualified staff with a Ph.D. or NET and the policy is reflected in the professional achievements of the faculty.
The commerce and computer science departments have more than 110 members, who own an excellent record of books and journal publications, research projects, and patents to their name. S.D.N.B.V.C seeks to continuously up-skill its academic educators as well as its students through regular development programs, workshops, seminars, guest lectures, industrial visits, and conferences. The college also provides the necessary financial aid for the publications by the faculty. Giving an equal emphasis on infrastructure, the college has constructed a WiFi-enabled campus, which is endowed with excellent facilities like digital libraries, a fully air-conditioned auditorium, a research facility, a hostel, a canteen, a playground, clubs, and the Apollo Shine health clinic. To ensure their safety, the campus is well-guarded by security personnel around the clock.
Preparing its UG and PG graduates for successful career placements, S.D.N.B.V.C has mandated pre-placement training, and internships and has entered into MoUs with an elite catalog of multiple organizations, like ICMAI, ICSI, the Andhra Chamber of Commerce, the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce, the Madras Chamber of Commerce, TCS, ICT Academy, and Yagen Robotics. Through this, the college provides 100 percent placement to all its commerce and computer science students in various corporate giants such as Cognizant, Infosys, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Wipro, MCKINSEY, TCS, Deloitte, and Accenture. Besides, promoting women's entrepreneurship, S.D.N.B.V.C has launched the Vaishnav Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship Development (VCIIED), which envisions supporting and rendering women-led startups into profitable entities in association with academia, industry, and government. Students opting for higher studies are offered training programs that prepare them for competitive exams.
Touted to be one of the leading colleges in Chennai, S.D.N.B.V.C parades with an array of honors and accolades in its arsenal. The college is ranked 32nd in India, 15th in Tamil Nadu, and 7th in Chennai among autonomous colleges by Education World India. In addition, the institution has also been recognized as the best private institute in Tamil Nadu by the Centre for Education Growth and Research, held in New Delhi in 2023. The college has secured a position in the 100-150 band of the NIRF ranking and is marching towards securing a place within the 100 ranks by the next academic year.
While many men of that era were averse to the idea of an educated woman, the late Nanalal Bhatt - a visionary leader - set off on a journey to foster a revolution by instituting a women's college in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu - Shrimathi Devkunvar Nanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College (S.D.N.B.V.C) for women.
The college has been instrumental in enabling empowerment and holistic development of women through its plethora of quality educational courses, skills training, and consistent placement opportunities.
Fuelled by his donation of 10 acres of land coupled with a significant investment from Cork Industries Charities, the college rose from the ground up as the first women's college established in the district in 1968 to what it is today. Nearly 7000 women students are pursuing Art, Science, and Commerce courses in the college. S.D.N.B.V.C is an Autonomous college, affiliated to the University of Madras, holding an A+ accreditation from the NAAC.
"S.D.N.B.V.C has emerged as one of the most promising colleges for commerce and computer science in India, providing comprehensive courses in both Aided and Self Support streams.
The commerce stream in the college is in high demand. Nearly 4000 out of the total current strength, belong to the Commerce stream. Run on an industry-aligned curriculum, the Commerce stream comprises nine specializations in the UG programs and three specializations in the PG Commerce programs.The curriculum empowers the students to ace the professional exams for the CMA, CA, and ACS. The PG programs focus on training students in pursuit of Research in Commerce and Finance.
Apart from the regular academic courses, S.D.N.B.V.C mandates around 35 certification courses and various skill enhancement training programs, including domain-specific skill training, life skills, digital skills, soft skills, and more. To mention a few, the Arthavidhya program, in which students learn deeply about business processes accounting through a self-learning model, and 'Vivac' - The Computer-based Practical Accounting program covering Taxation, Corporate Compliance, Tally and Advanced Excel are a couple of skill development programs offered to Commerce students.
There is a dedicated board of studies and academic council, which comprises academic, professional, institutional, and industry members to provide the latest insight catering to the industry's needs", shares Dr. R Geetha, Principal, S.D.N.B.V.C. Being equally popular in S.D.N.B.V.C, the Computer Science stream has 5 specializations in UG including computer science with Data Science, Artificial intelligence, Cognitive systems, Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), and MSc Computer Science in PG.
MSc in computer science is the most renowned among the PG programs, owing to its research-intensive endeavors. The state-of-the-art computer labs on the campus house about 1000 systems with advanced software, and there are separate labs for data science. The students are encouraged to take up e-learning courses through Swayam, MOOC, and NPTEL to induce flexible learning while also adding extra credits to a student's academic credentials. Apart from the mandatory training, the 25+ certificate courses in computer science and its IoT club edify the students about revolutionary technologies like robotics, 3D printing, app development, and cloud infrastructure. The institute has conducted a Centre of Excellence Programme on Cloud Practitioners (AWS), which has opened new avenues for certifications and in-demand cloud jobs. The college's recent initiative to create a center for IoT and robotics also acts as an added advantage.
A Milieu For Excellence
S.D.N.B.V.C hires only qualified staff with a Ph.D. or NET and the policy is reflected in the professional achievements of the faculty.
The commerce and computer science departments have more than 110 members, who own an excellent record of books and journal publications, research projects, and patents to their name. S.D.N.B.V.C seeks to continuously up-skill its academic educators as well as its students through regular development programs, workshops, seminars, guest lectures, industrial visits, and conferences. The college also provides the necessary financial aid for the publications by the faculty. Giving an equal emphasis on infrastructure, the college has constructed a WiFi-enabled campus, which is endowed with excellent facilities like digital libraries, a fully air-conditioned auditorium, a research facility, a hostel, a canteen, a playground, clubs, and the Apollo Shine health clinic. To ensure their safety, the campus is well-guarded by security personnel around the clock.
Preparing its UG and PG graduates for successful career placements, S.D.N.B.V.C has mandated pre-placement training, and internships and has entered into MoUs with an elite catalog of multiple organizations, like ICMAI, ICSI, the Andhra Chamber of Commerce, the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce, the Madras Chamber of Commerce, TCS, ICT Academy, and Yagen Robotics. Through this, the college provides 100 percent placement to all its commerce and computer science students in various corporate giants such as Cognizant, Infosys, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Wipro, MCKINSEY, TCS, Deloitte, and Accenture. Besides, promoting women's entrepreneurship, S.D.N.B.V.C has launched the Vaishnav Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship Development (VCIIED), which envisions supporting and rendering women-led startups into profitable entities in association with academia, industry, and government. Students opting for higher studies are offered training programs that prepare them for competitive exams.
Touted to be one of the leading colleges in Chennai, S.D.N.B.V.C parades with an array of honors and accolades in its arsenal. The college is ranked 32nd in India, 15th in Tamil Nadu, and 7th in Chennai among autonomous colleges by Education World India. In addition, the institution has also been recognized as the best private institute in Tamil Nadu by the Centre for Education Growth and Research, held in New Delhi in 2023. The college has secured a position in the 100-150 band of the NIRF ranking and is marching towards securing a place within the 100 ranks by the next academic year.