Symbiosis School For Liberal Arts: Fostering Quality Education Of International Standards
Dr. Anita Patankar, Director, Symbiosis School For Liberal Arts
India is consistently marching towards being a country that offers tremendous opportunities to create jobs not just in the existing employment sectors, but also in the ones that have not been thought of yet. While the industry requirements are getting specific, it is important to nurture the skills which can help students fit into job roles that are on offer. Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (SSLA) aims at moulding students to be employable and critically conscious citizens with a sound balance of personal & professional lives. Established in 2011, SSLA was set up as the first liberal arts undergraduate four-year degree Programme under the aegis of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU).
While the structure and ideology of Liberal Arts education is American in origin, SIU has been the pioneering visionary in bringing it to the country. Liberal Arts education in India has adapted to the needs of the Indian society, economy and industry. The foray into liberal arts started with the setting up of a three-year diploma in liberal arts at the Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts in 2006. Based on the experiences gathered at the centre, feedback from students, parents and all other stakeholders, and a two-month stay at the DePauw University, a liberal arts college in the US, SIU decided to launch a four-year programme in liberal arts.
Diversity of Courses for Distinctive Careers
SSLA offers three kinds of courses - core courses that are taught to all students; courses for specializations that are taught to students depending on the major and minor they have selected; and electives that can be taken by students irrespective of their specialization.
There are 12 specializations offered as majors and 22 specializations as minors. The wide range of courses offers students a chance to go beyond the traditional curriculum. For instance, a student with a major in English and a minor in Law or Sociology, who applies for a position at a leading newspaper, will walk in with a larger toolbox of skills, knowledge and abilities, as compared to a regular graduate in English.
Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts also ensures that faculty members have all the freedom that is essential to create new courses in emerging areas of interest in academia as well as to explore areas that are not offered in traditional undergraduate programmes. Some of the unusual courses taught at SSLA include, Science as Muse: Intersections between Science and the Arts, Objects out of Place, the Unexplained and the Explainable (OOPs), The Mahabharata, and Literature and Religion.
"At SSLA, interactive pedagogy is used to facilitate unique student-faculty interactions to engage in scholarly discourse and to foster a spirit of curiosity in a co-constructed classroom environment. The pedagogy or the methodology adopted is interactive due to the small class size of not more than 15 students. Being a liberal arts institution, students are not just encouraged to learn concepts but also think about applying their learnings increasing the possibility of application of the knowledge gained inside the classroom and outside. This might be through class discussions, class leads, or other forms of interactive learning such as debates. Keeping in mind the diverse nature of student population, pedagogy revolves around audio-visual forms including documentary, movie, news clippings, online lecture sources. Use of academic papers to introduce, explain and often critique the concepts taught allow the students the wide girth of opinions that sustain and take forth a discipline to new avenues of research and application", says Dr. Anita Patankar, Director, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts.
Opening New Window of Opportunities
There is only so much that you can do unless you are given more opportunities. Instead of confining education within the narrow fields of specialization and domain expertise where students are restricted to certain disciplines, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts ensures that every student undertakes a curriculum of subjects that is spread across a large range of the academic spectrum. The institute has adopted the well-established international ideology of liberal arts education and tailored it to meet the Indian scenario. Thus, SSLA students graduate with two specializations, but at the same time are introduced to compulsory courses from several disciplines and choose from a basket of electives beyond their chosen majors and minors.
"The challenge of outdated syllabi and lack of connect between the classroom and industry in Indian higher education is also being dealt with at SSLA. Not only are experts from academia and industry involved in the process of curriculum development, but student feedback is also taken very seriously in reviewing the courses taught at SSLA. The problems of high reliance on rote learning and teaching exclusively through lectures are addressed via innovative pedagogies and evaluations. Instead of focusing on just one skill how well you write an examination at the end of the year students at SSLA are tested on several skills, many of which will be more useful in the real world. Students are asked to make presentations, write term papers, participate in simulations, organize exhibitions, and more, to test them on what they've learned", shares Dr. Anita Patankar.
SSLA lays great emphasis on transferable skills like critical thinking, research and analysis, writing and communication, and civic-mindedness which is aimed at all-round development of the student. The programme offered at SSLA is designed to equip students with the skills that employers across all sectors are looking for. Living in times of significant cultural and technological changes, the institute aspires to ensure that its students are ready to face an uncertain future. Hence, the curriculum at SSLA is drawn from diverse disciplines, and the specializations that SSLA offers spans from the pure sciences to business to media.
"Living In Times Of Significant Cultural And Technological Changes, SSLA Is Committed To Ensuring That Students Are Equipped With The Requisite Knowledge, Skills And Attitude To Perform Competently In An Uncertain Future And Succeed In Their Personal And Professional Lives"
The USP of SSLA is woven in adapting the international model to the Indian environment, democratic learning space, co-constructed, experiential classrooms, core domain knowledge with on-field learning through research, internship and a project that requires students to work in and learn from communities. The other advantages include study abroad opportunities where many students travel on a semester exchange programme/summer school and study courses at partner institutes. Adding further, Dr. Anita mentions, "The opportunity to specialize in two or more diverse disciplines, 1:17 Faculty to Student ratio, 242+ courses across 20 disciplines, summer trips, conferences, Professors from Foreign Universities offering short-term programmes and co-taught courses are a few highlights that set SSLA apart from other liberal arts colleges in the country. Overall there is a focus on developing the students' ability to research while honing their reading, writing and critical thinking skills."
Warranting Vibrant and Dynamic Individuals
The student community at SSLA is engaged in a host of co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The students write, edit and design several publications including a newsletter, a monthly magazine focused on politics, special publications on entrepreneurship, theatre, and more. The institute has 11 active clubs that are entirely student-run and organize a host of events, lectures and workshops throughout the year. These include clubs dedicated to music, theatre, Psychology and trekking. The achievements of the theatre club, Natak Society, and poetry club called It Could Be Verse, are particularly noteworthy. For instance Priyanka Sutaria was the recipient of the first Kamala Das prize that recognized young, unpublished female poets. The Queer Crew at SSLA, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues is one of the very first formal associations within the undergraduate space.
Having come a long way since inception, SSLA believes, its programme is well suited to prepare students to face a volatile uncertain world. The 21st century presents an influx of change within the technological and socio-cultural space with expectations of global skills and competencies from the youth. SSLA programme is well-crafted to cater to the uncertain future with its inter-multi and trans-disciplinary, interwoven learning that focuses on research, critical analysis, technological literacy and more importantly communication and soft-skills. Our students are thus well placed in learning how to learn, learning how to think and learning how to question and these skill set that they gain will hold them in good stead.
While the academic and employability aspect of learning is important at SSLA, the need to create critically conscious citizens of the globe is equally important to the learning experience. "We always focus on constructing a democratic, participative learning community through our democratically elected Student Council, students' contribution to curriculum design and student-led activities giving voice to youthful aspirations and ideologies within the learning environment. Our road map ahead will be to continue to focus on our experiential and critical learning pedagogy and specific skill set that the liberal arts ideology offers that allow us to move ahead in pace with the changing trends that the industry throws at us. We intend to adapt to the needs of the industry and the market through new specializations and electives such as Design Thinking and Machine Learning to enhance, change, upgrade and modify the curriculum to best suit the times we live in", signs off Dr. Anita Patankar.
Dr. Anita Patankar, Director
Dr. Anita Patankar has been the director at SSLA since its inception in 2011. She headed India’s first liberal arts program at Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts. An alumnus of Ra Podar College of Commerce, Mumbai, she is the only Indian representative and founder member on the alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities.
While the structure and ideology of Liberal Arts education is American in origin, SIU has been the pioneering visionary in bringing it to the country. Liberal Arts education in India has adapted to the needs of the Indian society, economy and industry. The foray into liberal arts started with the setting up of a three-year diploma in liberal arts at the Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts in 2006. Based on the experiences gathered at the centre, feedback from students, parents and all other stakeholders, and a two-month stay at the DePauw University, a liberal arts college in the US, SIU decided to launch a four-year programme in liberal arts.
Diversity of Courses for Distinctive Careers
SSLA offers three kinds of courses - core courses that are taught to all students; courses for specializations that are taught to students depending on the major and minor they have selected; and electives that can be taken by students irrespective of their specialization.
There are 12 specializations offered as majors and 22 specializations as minors. The wide range of courses offers students a chance to go beyond the traditional curriculum. For instance, a student with a major in English and a minor in Law or Sociology, who applies for a position at a leading newspaper, will walk in with a larger toolbox of skills, knowledge and abilities, as compared to a regular graduate in English.
Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts also ensures that faculty members have all the freedom that is essential to create new courses in emerging areas of interest in academia as well as to explore areas that are not offered in traditional undergraduate programmes. Some of the unusual courses taught at SSLA include, Science as Muse: Intersections between Science and the Arts, Objects out of Place, the Unexplained and the Explainable (OOPs), The Mahabharata, and Literature and Religion.
"At SSLA, interactive pedagogy is used to facilitate unique student-faculty interactions to engage in scholarly discourse and to foster a spirit of curiosity in a co-constructed classroom environment. The pedagogy or the methodology adopted is interactive due to the small class size of not more than 15 students. Being a liberal arts institution, students are not just encouraged to learn concepts but also think about applying their learnings increasing the possibility of application of the knowledge gained inside the classroom and outside. This might be through class discussions, class leads, or other forms of interactive learning such as debates. Keeping in mind the diverse nature of student population, pedagogy revolves around audio-visual forms including documentary, movie, news clippings, online lecture sources. Use of academic papers to introduce, explain and often critique the concepts taught allow the students the wide girth of opinions that sustain and take forth a discipline to new avenues of research and application", says Dr. Anita Patankar, Director, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts.
Opening New Window of Opportunities
There is only so much that you can do unless you are given more opportunities. Instead of confining education within the narrow fields of specialization and domain expertise where students are restricted to certain disciplines, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts ensures that every student undertakes a curriculum of subjects that is spread across a large range of the academic spectrum. The institute has adopted the well-established international ideology of liberal arts education and tailored it to meet the Indian scenario. Thus, SSLA students graduate with two specializations, but at the same time are introduced to compulsory courses from several disciplines and choose from a basket of electives beyond their chosen majors and minors.
"The challenge of outdated syllabi and lack of connect between the classroom and industry in Indian higher education is also being dealt with at SSLA. Not only are experts from academia and industry involved in the process of curriculum development, but student feedback is also taken very seriously in reviewing the courses taught at SSLA. The problems of high reliance on rote learning and teaching exclusively through lectures are addressed via innovative pedagogies and evaluations. Instead of focusing on just one skill how well you write an examination at the end of the year students at SSLA are tested on several skills, many of which will be more useful in the real world. Students are asked to make presentations, write term papers, participate in simulations, organize exhibitions, and more, to test them on what they've learned", shares Dr. Anita Patankar.
SSLA lays great emphasis on transferable skills like critical thinking, research and analysis, writing and communication, and civic-mindedness which is aimed at all-round development of the student. The programme offered at SSLA is designed to equip students with the skills that employers across all sectors are looking for. Living in times of significant cultural and technological changes, the institute aspires to ensure that its students are ready to face an uncertain future. Hence, the curriculum at SSLA is drawn from diverse disciplines, and the specializations that SSLA offers spans from the pure sciences to business to media.
"Living In Times Of Significant Cultural And Technological Changes, SSLA Is Committed To Ensuring That Students Are Equipped With The Requisite Knowledge, Skills And Attitude To Perform Competently In An Uncertain Future And Succeed In Their Personal And Professional Lives"
The USP of SSLA is woven in adapting the international model to the Indian environment, democratic learning space, co-constructed, experiential classrooms, core domain knowledge with on-field learning through research, internship and a project that requires students to work in and learn from communities. The other advantages include study abroad opportunities where many students travel on a semester exchange programme/summer school and study courses at partner institutes. Adding further, Dr. Anita mentions, "The opportunity to specialize in two or more diverse disciplines, 1:17 Faculty to Student ratio, 242+ courses across 20 disciplines, summer trips, conferences, Professors from Foreign Universities offering short-term programmes and co-taught courses are a few highlights that set SSLA apart from other liberal arts colleges in the country. Overall there is a focus on developing the students' ability to research while honing their reading, writing and critical thinking skills."
Warranting Vibrant and Dynamic Individuals
The student community at SSLA is engaged in a host of co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The students write, edit and design several publications including a newsletter, a monthly magazine focused on politics, special publications on entrepreneurship, theatre, and more. The institute has 11 active clubs that are entirely student-run and organize a host of events, lectures and workshops throughout the year. These include clubs dedicated to music, theatre, Psychology and trekking. The achievements of the theatre club, Natak Society, and poetry club called It Could Be Verse, are particularly noteworthy. For instance Priyanka Sutaria was the recipient of the first Kamala Das prize that recognized young, unpublished female poets. The Queer Crew at SSLA, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues is one of the very first formal associations within the undergraduate space.
Having come a long way since inception, SSLA believes, its programme is well suited to prepare students to face a volatile uncertain world. The 21st century presents an influx of change within the technological and socio-cultural space with expectations of global skills and competencies from the youth. SSLA programme is well-crafted to cater to the uncertain future with its inter-multi and trans-disciplinary, interwoven learning that focuses on research, critical analysis, technological literacy and more importantly communication and soft-skills. Our students are thus well placed in learning how to learn, learning how to think and learning how to question and these skill set that they gain will hold them in good stead.
While the academic and employability aspect of learning is important at SSLA, the need to create critically conscious citizens of the globe is equally important to the learning experience. "We always focus on constructing a democratic, participative learning community through our democratically elected Student Council, students' contribution to curriculum design and student-led activities giving voice to youthful aspirations and ideologies within the learning environment. Our road map ahead will be to continue to focus on our experiential and critical learning pedagogy and specific skill set that the liberal arts ideology offers that allow us to move ahead in pace with the changing trends that the industry throws at us. We intend to adapt to the needs of the industry and the market through new specializations and electives such as Design Thinking and Machine Learning to enhance, change, upgrade and modify the curriculum to best suit the times we live in", signs off Dr. Anita Patankar.
Dr. Anita Patankar, Director
Dr. Anita Patankar has been the director at SSLA since its inception in 2011. She headed India’s first liberal arts program at Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts. An alumnus of Ra Podar College of Commerce, Mumbai, she is the only Indian representative and founder member on the alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities.
