| |9 DECEMBER 2022HIGHERReviewevery semester so that their horizon is broadened and they are acquiring knowledge in a new discipline. Nurturing social responsibility in students is a major challenge for many higher education institutions. How do you view the importance of community outreach programs to not only build a better sense of responsibility among students towards the society but also in developing their leadership and interpersonal skills? For us, social outreach is a crucial facet of the education that we offer and unless you put 60 hours into social outreach activities, an undergraduate student won't be able to graduate from the college. We have divided the social outreach programs semester wise which helps us to nurture a sense of social responsibility among our students. The students will also go to a remote village for three days and two nights as part of their social outreach programs. We have a separate outreach department taking care of these activities. Lack of quality research is hindering the growth of Indian higher education. How can commerce colleges in the country nurture the culture of research within the campus?Research is a weak link in many commerce colleges. To tackle this issue, during the two summer breaks, every one of our students should do two internships and submit the report. One year, the students will do social internships while in the other year, they do industrial internships. These internships should be a minimum of four weeks and at times, these will be paid internships. Now, we are offering them the opportunity to do research internships as well. To promote research in the campus, we have also started to do research symposiums where students write research articles and we publish them in compendiums. All these are outside the normal project works that they have to do as part of the curriculum and it helps in nurturing the culture of research in the students. Teaching pedagogies should evolve with the changing times in order to ensure effective transfer of knowledge. In your opinion, what are some of the innovative teaching pedagogies commerce colleges can use to enhance the learning experience for students?We have students from 20 different states represented in our campus because of which their education till the point they join us is vastly different. We have to make this diverse group of students accept our syllabus and for that, as soon as the admissions are over, we provide them 12 videos relating to accounting and basic mathematics to watch. We will then conduct a test based on these videos to understand the knowledge of each student. For students who don't perform well, we will conduct one more test after a week of intensive coaching. This helps us to ensure that each student has a minimum competency. Industrial visits are another methodology we use to enhance the learning experience and increase the employability of the students. Simulation sessions are also conducted regularly to ensure that students get ample practical exposure. Lack of student-centricity has been a perennial issue in the Indian higher education segment. Considering this, what changes do you foresee happening in Indian commerce education to address the issue and ensure student-centric learning? Most institutes have to follow a syllabus that is the set by the university. Autonomous colleges are changing this trend and we as an autonomous institution has always prioritized on the constant revision of syllabus based on industry requirements. Another unique aspect of the B.Com degree that we offer is that we include in it the syllabus of professional programs like CA or CS to name a few. This offers our students an added advantage on their peers when appearing for exams of these professional programs. For us, social outreach is a crucial facet of the education that we offer and unless you put 60 hours into social outreach activities, an undergraduate student won't be able to graduate from the college
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