History of higher education in India

In this writing, I am describing about history of the institution Sree Narayana Mangalam Institute of Management & Technology and considerable transitions occurred in my department, Electronics and Communication Engineering.

The institution is a self financing engineering college situated in Ernakulam district in the state of Kerala. It is run by HMDP Sabha, approved by AICTE and affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.  The college established in the year 2001 and offers engineering disciplines of several specialization. Electronics and Communication Engineering department constitutes of 13 faculty members, well qualified and equipped with current trends in the applications of engineering. The department has 60 students of intake capacity.

There is a transition in the curriculum of M G University; the university revised the curriculum in the year 2010. Specialized domain theory and practical courses are included as part of the new curriculum.

The department of Electronics and Communication Engineering focused more on academic training of subjects, laboratory works and additional help for students in their learning process. Motivation talks, invited lecture, training programs on specialized tools and technologies are arranged for students by external experts. Faculty is responsible to do their part by delivering basic fundamental classes on MATLAB, MPLAB to the students during vacations. These add on training programs will meet the industry outlook for the students.

Considerable research works, project works are initiated in the incubation center 'SPARK' is established in the year 2014. More focus yet to be done in this section. Teaching and academic delivery is at the top and fairly good pass percentage in the university and students secured 3^rd and 4^th ranks in the year 2011 and 2012. There has been a considerable transition from the faculty side from academics and teaching to the research works and paper presentations. Publications are increasing when took last few years.

Students are very active in the department activities and students forum. Professional bodies like IEEE, ISTE are active in this institution. Students played a vital role in these activities. They are active in social services like community helping in the nearby localities.

Department e-magazine 'e-hive' released every academic year with the coordination of students and faculty members. Project exhibitions are conducted every year for students from schools and colleges.

The department faculty is now active in the research work of their area of expertise. This shift is expected in the coming years.

Submitted by,

Reg No: 1447201

History of higher education in India

The history of the institution where I am working and the paradigm shift in my Electronics and Communication department is depicted in this writing. Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology is situated in Kochi, Kerala district in India. This institution is affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University of the state and approved by All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. The institution runs by Sacred Heart Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). The department is established in the year 2001.

Talking about my department, Electronics and Communication Engineering discipline established the year college established. It includes 60 intakes of students capacity and later upgraded to 120 students. Qualified faculty from India and abroad are part of this department. The department in most of the academic years stands top in the results of the university. The department believes a shift in the year 2009 with the thought of add on courses conducted during semester breaks. The students are equipped with free training of MATLAB, PIC microcontroller courses. Later, by 2011, the department started thinking in the direction of NBA certification standards. This NBA accreditation believes not just the infrastructure and facilities provided by the management, it questions how the department is carrying out the teaching learning process, effective assessments, quality study materials, plans to fill the gap between the industry and academics and overall development, involvement of students in professional bodies like IEEE, ISTE etc, staff and student coordination in various clubs, activities, and many others. Now, the department made a great transition from not just satisfying university prescribed syllabus and examinations. More add on programs on specialized software, training sessions and workshops, conferences focused for faculty. Research publications of the faculty members grew by 2014. Even, faculty started interacting with outside world, collaboration with industries such as Nest, research publications along with faculty members from different academic and industry members and involvement in professional bodies.

There is a considerable shift in the curriculum; the university revised the curriculum in the year 2010. This includes new subjects in the discipline and new labs.

 

The change reflects in students attitude and their involvement in various clubs like Entrepreneurship clubs, NSS camps and also coordinated along with department faculty for publishing 'Electranauts' magazine which includes the activities, conferences, students project works in the academic year. 

A considerable positive change happened during the last few years. But, still faculty members are now focused on to develop their research skills apart from the academic duties. This change won't be a drastic, as research is an ongoing process and the evaluation is not done at this point.

Submitted by,

Reg No: 1447202

History of the Department of Commerce-Christ University

The Department of commerce was established in the year 1969 and is one of the oldest department. It began as Christ college and now it has attained deemed university status. In 2006 Christ University received autonomous status. Originally Christ college had only one section and later with the demand in the programme the department had four regular sections and now the department has grown in terms of programmes offered like, Bcom Hons,Mcom and MPhil .As we have increase in terms of number of students we have also diversified into variety of students coming from different countries. In the beginning the department had very less enrolment ratio of students and some of the students belonged to foreign countries mainly from Afghanistan.

Coming to the structure of the department we had only Hod and coordinators now we have associate dean and Hod and coordinators for Bcom Regular and Bcom Hons.Even the pattern of assessment of students has changed drastically. Earlier it was annual exam system and now there are continuous internal assessment patterns and semester system. There are add -on courses which are mandatory certificate courses to be undertaken by first and second year students.

By

 Mary Rani Thomas

1440101

A brief overview of the history of the Mathematics department at Bangalore University.

The Department of Mathematics at the Central College Campus of Bangalore University has a history of over 120 years. The current chairman is Prof. Pradeep Siddeshwar, an active researcher in Fluid Mechanics.

  The department has also been afforded other lumiaries like C.N.S. Iyengar who has contributed extensively to the field of Differential and Riemannian Geometry, while at Bangalore University. Iyengar received a D.Sc. (c.c) from Calcutta University, Calcutta.Iyengar wrote a book The History of Ancient Indian Mathematics (1967 - World Press)
Presently. Prof H.G.Nagaraja and the recently retired Prof Y.B.Maralabavi are also working in Differential Geometry. It is to be noted that Prof C S Aravinda, now at TIFR-CAM, Bangalore is also an alumni of this Department and actively engaged in research in Riemannian Geometry. Prof.K.Harinath was another great name in the field of Abstract Algebra and a former chairman of the Department.

  The Department also has an offshoot centre for research in Fluid Mechanics which was started by Prof.Rudraiah, an eminent researcher and formerly the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University and also Gulbarga University. Other names include Prof.M.Venkatachala.

Vishesh Bhat,

Christ University.

History of Physics in Mysore University.

History of Physics department, Mysore University

The University of Mysore (Manasagangothri) is a public state university located in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university became the first outside of the Britain administration in India, the sixth in India as a whole, and the first in Karnataka. It is a state university of the affiliating type, and became autonomous on March 3, 1956, when it gained recognition from the University Grants Commission. In addition, the university has 37 postgraduate departments, eight specialized research and training centers, and two postgraduate centers that together offer a total of about 55 regular academic programs to 3,500 students.

As of July 2013, the University of Mysore was accredited "Grade A" by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), while its academic staff was ranked amongst the top 5 across India.

The Department of Physics was established in the campus of the University of Mysore. The beginning as a small department offering only an M.Sc. course in one special subject, Spectroscopy, today it is offering both Master's and Doctoral programs covering one or more aspects of Physics. The Department has been identified as a Department of Advanced Studies by the Government of Karnataka. The performance of the Department under the DST funded FIST program has been rated Good.

It was one of the first few university departments in the country selected under the University Leadership Project of the UGC to take up the College Science Improvement Program (COSIP) in Physics. This program stretched over a period of ten years during which the undergraduate physics curricula and teaching were modernised. In 1995, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, set up a National Single Crystal Diffractometer Facility to cater to the XRD data needs of crystal structure related researchers in this department and other universities/Institutes/Laboratories/Industries. The department is also funded under SAP. As per the Web of Science, USA, University of Mysore ranks sixth in the country based on the number of publications in peer reviewed journals. The major contribution for this is from Physics.

The faculty have about 918 research publications in refereed journals. It has more than 250 research reports presented in various National/International Conferences/Symposia/Seminars. So far more than 120 Ph.D. candidates have been successfully guided by the faculty of this department.

It has build a number of groups such as: Atmospheric Physics that focuses on Aerosol Climatology and MWR Studies, Atmospheric Electrical Conductivity. Condensed Matter Physics dealing with X-ray crystallography of medicinally important class of compounds, Liquid Crystals,WAXS, SAXS on silk fibres, Environmental Radiation doing Radon / Thoron Studies. Nuclear Physics that explores X-ray and gamma ray interactions with matter, Positron Annihilation Studies in Polymers. Also, the Theoretical Physics that deals with General Relativity, Lorentz Group. It conducts several tutorials, seminars, student projects and lectures by experts from other institutes and universities.

Faculty of physics department are honored and awarded in their fields of interest.

Prof. C. Ranganathaiah has been a Post Doctoral Fellow at Australia, NASA fellow, USA and visited France as a visiting scientist. Prof. R. Somashekar has won a Young Scientist Award for the year 1986, has enjoyed the position of Research Associate, UMIST-Manchester, U K and visited JSPS- Japan as a visiting professor. Prof. M.A. Sridhar is awarded Sir C.V. Raman Award.

As per the Web of Science, USA, University of Mysore ranks sixth in the country based on the number of publications in peer reviewed journals. The major contribution for this is from Physics Department.

Physics Department has been chosen to be the nodal centre for the India based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project. ISRO has sanctioned Rs.25 lakhs to offer Atmospheric Physics as an elective subject to their M.Sc students. Department has also received Infrastructure grants of Rs 20 lakhs as an SAP funded department from UGC. Recently, the department is introducing courses in emerging fields like astrophysics. In this regard, department has installed an optical telescope and is conducting public sky watches during special occasions like lunar eclipse, occultations and transits. Towards the development several workshops and national and state level seminars will be conducted every semester.

Eminent Scientist and Faculty of the department.

Shivaramakrishnan Pancharatnam (1934–1969) was an Indian physicist, noted for his discovery of a type of geometric phase sometimes known as Pancharatnam phase for polarized beams passing through crystals.

Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar (1961–1971) was an Indian physicist who won the Royal Medal in 1994. He served as the first Head of the Department of Physics, which had just been started in the University of Mysore at Mysore.

Dr. Arakali Venu Gopala Rao (1968–2007). His field of interest is in General Relativity, Groups and Polarisation Optics.

Dr. Dharmaraja Krishnamurti (1961–1989), Dr. Mysore Srinivasamurthy Madhava (1969–2001), Dr. Bidare Narasimhamurthy (1970–2000), Dr. Panditputtaiah Venkataramaiah (1972-1997)

Allumni of the department.

Poornachandra tejaswi, an eminent literateur is an allumni of the department.

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy CBE commonly referred to as Narayana Murthy, is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation providing business consulting, technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. Murthy studied electrical engineering at the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore, and M. Tech at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, FRS, also known as C.N.R. Rao, is an Indian chemist who has worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry. DSc from Mysore University in 1961.

Recent Activities:

Presently, the department is organizing sky watches every month on the weekends to impart interest among students in astrophysics. Also, they conduct state and national level seminars and workshops in astrophysics to encourage cutting edge research. The current specializations offered in M.Sc. are Nuclear Physics, Theoretical physics and Condensed matter physics.

-Ayesha Anjum [1445203]

History of the Department of Physics, Christ Univerity

Anu .N. Mohan

Reg. No- 1445 201

Department of Physics in Christ University was first established in 1969 with an undergraduate program and a vision to provide formal and rigorous training for students to inculcate in depth knowledge of the subject.

During the early days, the department was affiliated to Bangalore University. In 1997, autonomous status was awarded and the semester system was followed in the academics. In 2009, the department came under the umbrella of Christ University. In the beginning years, faculty of the Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses was bifurcated and in 2009, both the UG and PG departments were joined.

In 1993, the department was upgraded with the addition of a post graduate course. The specialization offered in the post graduate course was Molecular and Crystal Physics and in 2002 several modifications was made to the specialization and was re-framed as Crystal Physics. In 2006, the department started offering Electronics also as a specialization subject apart from the already existing Crystal Physics. In 2014, Astrophysics was also added to the specialization categories offered by the Department.

Apart from these courses, the department also offers certificate courses for the interested students in "Astronomy and Astrophysics" and in "Renewable energy". In order to provide in depth knowledge of the subject, regular class room teaching is supplemented with tutorials, brain storming ideas and problem solving efforts, pertaining to each theory and practical course. The Department hosts a science fest "Eureka" every year for the UG and PG science students of various colleges across the city.

Department of Physics is one of the unique departments of Christ University which has got a strong research platform. The department offers two research degrees in the field of Physics- Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. The M.Phil program was started in 2008 and the Ph.D program was started in 2009 with five specializations namely- Crystal Physics, Astrophysics, Spectroscopy, Nuclear Physics and Superconductivity.  In fulfilling the degree requirements, a student has to undertake course work, attend and present seminars, and conduct thesis research. Over the years, Department has developed a well equipped research laboratory with Thin film units, High temperature furnaces, Filtering units etc.

 

History of the Department of Physics, Christ University, Bangalore, India.

History of the Department of Physics, Christ University, Bangalore, India.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               (Reg. No. 1445202)

 

The Department of Physics in Christ University was started in the year 1969, offering Undergraduate courses. The goal was to equip the students to become effective teachers and researchers in Physics, to contribute to the needs of the society, by providing an environment of learning and knowledge creation through academic rigor and innovation. By 1993, the Postgraduate programme was established, offering M.Sc. in Molecular and Crystal Physics specializations. It was the final, formal and rigorous training for students, to provide an in-depth knowledge of the subject. The regular class room teaching was supplemented with tutorials, brain storming ideas and problem solving efforts, pertaining to each theory and practical course. It was in 2002, the specialization was made Crystal Physics, while in 2005, one more specialization, Electronics, was introduced. In 2014, Astro Physics was also added as another specialization.

 

M.Phil Programme was started in 2008 with five specializations namely Crystal Physics, Astrophysics, Spectroscopy, Nuclear Physics and Superconductivity. The course was designed to prepare the students for teaching, for further higher studies or advanced work in industries. In fulfilling of the degree requirements, every student was expected to undertake course work, attend and present seminars and conduct thesis research.

 

Ph.D. programme in Physics was introduced in the year 2009 with specializations in Crystal Physics, Astrophysics, Spectroscopy, Nuclear Physics and Superconductivity. Certificate courses were also offered by the department to enrich the students' scientific knowledge. Most of the faculty members of the department published their research work in various national and international conferences and journals and had UGC and DST sponsored major and minor research projects.

 

History of Computer science department at Christ university

Department of Computer Science started in Christ University in 1989 with bachelor's degree in computer science.MCA started in Christ College by 1994. Later BCA and Mphil computer science were also introduced. Now the Computer Science department has MCA,BCA, BSC , Mphil and MSc in computer application courses. Department has nearly 30 faculties and nearly 1000students.

Assignment on history of our department

Dear Sir,

Please find the attachment and give feedback.

Yours sincerely,

Suman G. R.,

Department of Physics,
Research Scholar,

Christ University,

Bangalore-29.

History of Psychology at Andaman College (ANCOL), Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Assignment  (1444201)

History of Psychology at Andaman College (ANCOL), Andaman and Nicobar Islands

 

Introduction:  

Set away from the Indian mainland and located on the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are best known for their peaceful climate. The place have limited scope for higher education. Andaman College came up in the year 2014 as the third degree college of the islands and is affiliated to Pondicherry University.

BSc in Psychology is one of the subjects offered at the undergraduate level at Andaman College, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is a three year full time course aimed at introducing students to the fundamental processes underlying human behaviour. Psychology as a subject is being started in a degree course for the first time in any college in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

 

History:

The subject "Psychology" was introduced in the year 2014 at my college and the college is affiliated to Pondicherry University. The initial intake of the capacity for the subject is 30 students per year. The college follows a honours degree pattern. The students have to study only Psychology related subjects as their mains and allied apart from the foundation courses. The foundation courses are English and one language (Hindi/Bengali/Tamil/Telugu). Since the subject was newly introduced, students were facing difficulties in getting books and other reference materials. After three months only the library included some 100 to 150 books in the Psychology section to be referred by the undergraduate students. A small psychology Lab with minimum facilities also got functioning after six months. Since the subject is in its formation years, yet equipped students of the first batch to write their 1^st semester examination in the month of December 2014.Despite lack of facilities 90% of the students cleared their first semester. With the completion of one year, the existing students will be facing their second semester examination; the subject will accommodate 30 more in the next academic year ie 2015-16. The number of books will go up to 500-700, with some more facilities. The Lab is also expected to be more equipped compared to the previous academic session.

In future ie within a couple of years the college is planning to increase the intake capacity from 30 to 60 depending upon the approval by the University and the local administration. The college is also planning to introduce under graduate courses by linking Psychology with other subjects.

 

History of Media studies department

History of Media studies department at Christ University

The department of Journalism started in 1991 with the initiation of Fr. Jose P, returning from university of Illinois after his higher studies in the discipline. Journalism was introduced along with other two disciplines in a triple main bachelor program format, as Christ was an affiliated institution to Bangalore University.

With the college becoming an autonomous institution in 2004, some new courses were introduced in the discipline in line with masters and bachelor programs. Starting 2004 a master level program titled MS in Journalism was introduced.

When Christ College took the big leap of becoming a Deemed to be University on July 22, 2008, the department of Journalism underwent a challenging step towards diversification under a new name called Media studies department. With the responsibility of building up a new curriculum and defining the future course of action, the department of Journalism underwent a transformation to include other streams of media studies.

Major shifts in pedagogy were undertaken in recent years with the incorporation of hands on experience by the department. Upgrading the Media lab was undertaken in 2009. Green view studio, a state of the art media facility with recording centre, video and audio editing facilities, University broadcasting centre and so on was established in 2009.  With the experts from the field as guest faculty and with opportunity for hands on experience on curriculum, the learning approach has shifted to equipping the students to skill building in all related fields.

The master level program was retitled to MA Journalism in 2014. The shifts in curriculum and diversification of growth are evident in the number of courses offered today at the University. Currently the department is offering many programs starting with PhD and M Phil in Media studies, MA in media and communication studies, Bachelors in Journalism along with other streams and disciplines under triple main program, Honours in journalism; Bachelors in Media studies; Bachelors in Media and communication along with other disciplines. Apart from these, the department is offering certificate courses in Semiotics, Cultural Studies, Visual Culture, Phonetics and Public Speaking.

Mr.Naresh Rao, one of the first staff to join when journalism started at the institution is the current head of the department. 

*****

Prepared by Paul T Louis, a research scholar in the department of Media studies

History of Physics in Christ University

     Christ College affiliated to Bangalore University was established in July 1969.  Since 1990 the institution has reached greater heights and has become one of the reputed institutions in the present Bengaluru, for all its modern curricula, diverse disciplines, imparting Holistic Education, highly qualified and dedicated faculty, ambiance, premises being centrally located, and the excelling diverse student community from all over the world. 

    The Department of Physics existed since the time of establishment and run Intermediate and UG courses.  At the undergraduate level (Bachelor of Science-BSc) there were two combinations with Physics as one of the core subjects.  The Combinations are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (PCM) and Physics, Mathematics, Electronics (PME).  In 1993, Christ College started a two-year Post Graduate programme, Master of Science in Physics with specializations in Crystal Physics and Electronics along with a branch of Solid State Physics and Spectroscopy.  In 2002 as a result of bifurcation of the Degree and Pre University Courses, Christ Junior College was established and functioned as a different body.  The institution has been continually rated among the top 10 educational institutions of India.  It is the first institution in Karnataka to be accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) UGC for quality education. 

      Christ College followed Annual Scheme and the syllabus prescribed by Bangalore University for UG and PG until 2003.  From 2004 onwards the annual scheme is modified to Semester system (2 semesters in a year).  In 2004, UGC conferred Autonomy on the Institution, after which the syllabus was revised by The Department of Physics and followed a schedule best suited the curriculum.  Changes were brought in the grading system and examination pattern.  After the completion of the course, the Convocation certificate was awarded by 'The Bangalore University'.  In 2005, Christ College(Autonomous) became the first College in South India to be re accredited with A+ by NAAC.   UGC identified it as an Institution with Potential for Excellence in 2006.

It was on July 22, 2008, the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Union Government of India, under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, vied Notification No. F. 9-34/2007-U.3(A), declared Christ College (Autonomous), a Deemed to be University, in the name and style of Christ University.  It was after this Christ University and the Departments had absolute Academic independence. 

       Until 2009 the Department of Physics at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level functioned as two different bodies teaching only the respective streams.  In 2010 the UG and the PG departments of Physics combined under one Head of the Department.  Then onwards every faculty in the Department of Physics handled classes for both UG as well as PG.  The institution in 2014 has included Material Science and Astrophysics too as the specializations at MSc.  The institution offers Master of Philosophy in Physics which is basically designed to inculcate and initiate research ideas.  The Department of Physics offers MPhil programme with specializations in Crystal Physics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Spectroscopy and Superconductivity. 

The Institution started Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Physics in the year 2008.  The eligibility criteria to join for PhD at Christ University is that the candidates should have 55% marks in Post graduation and 50% marks in MPhil in the relevant subject from any recognized university. Candidates who have completed JRF are exempted from MPhil requirement.

       There has not been much change in the teaching technique for the subject Physics.  The professors still follow chalk and board technique as it is more effective than PowerPoint presentations.  For certain areas depending on the relevance PowerPoint presentations, industrial visits, talks by eminent resource persons, workshops, seminars by students, EUREKA-the Physics fest are arranged periodically to trigger younger minds towards research.  All these developments have built a better student-teacher bonding.  Every faculty along with teaching are involved into research which would definitely contribute to the quality of their teaching and towards broadening the horizons of students.  Many research papers have been published by the faculty, of which one of the research papers published by Dr. S.B.Gudennavar in Astrophysics has the highest impact factor so far in Bengaluru.  Most of the research projects done by the faculty are funded by the Government and also by the University itself.   This is how the Department of Physics has transformed itself since the time of establishment.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1445204

History of Electronics and Communication Engineering in Christ University

Register Number:1447203

Electronics and Communication Engineering denotes a spectrum of technological fields like Microelectronics, signal processing, telecommunication, control systems and automation. The electronics engineers design and test, analog and digital circuits. The electromagnetic properties of the components help in parametric estimation. The input data given to the circuit will be digitized and pre-processed for different telecommunication and automation applications.

Christ University, formerly Christ College (Autonomous) affiliated to Bangalore University was established in July 1969. The first institution in Karnataka to be accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) UGC for quality education. In 2004, the University became autonomous and in 2005, it was reaccredited with A+ by NAAC. UGC identified it as an Institution with Potential for Excellence in 2006.On July 22, 2008, the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Union Government of India, under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, vide Notification No. F. 9-34/2007-U.3 (A), declared it a Deemed to be University, in the name and style of Christ University.

 

In the year 2009, Christ University Faculty of Engineering was established with two departments Electronics and Communication Engineering and Computer Science Engineering. As the faculty strength, lab facility and students strength was improving drastically, M.Tech Communication Systems was introduced in the year 2011.Now our department has Doctoral programme also.

With all conventional laboratory facilities, department also caters to research through Photonics laboratory and Hardware software co-design lab.UG and PG students take up their final year project using this lab facilities. The department promotes internship to students through research lab and it aims at offering internship to the students of other institutions too. With good faculty strength department caters to the thrust area of research like non-invasive technology to detect cancer, Microstrip antenna design, beam forming for smart antennas, seizure detection using EEG, speech enhancement of disordered speech and green network.

 

To promote student activities, CUESTIC, a technical club was inaugurated in the year 2012 and Source CODE is the mega intra departmental competition organised through that. This year windmill prototype design competition was organised .As a result of it student designed 250W wind plus solar hybrid power generator is to be erected in the month of April 2015 in the campus to illuminate the path way.




 

ECONOMICS IN CHRIST UNIVERSITY: AN EXPERIENTIAL CHRONICLE

                                                               Marie Joseph Gerard Rassindren

Reg. No. 1444401

Every branch of knowledge acquires its content, methodology and form through a process of accretion over time and is eventually transacted in the context of institutional arrangements.  The accumulation of its content takes place predominantly through renowned personalities that are the stalwarts of the intellectual component of any discipline.  But even they function through institutions and not independently.  So the entire evolution and transmission of any body of knowledge operates through institutions, which is none other than universities.  This essay intends to trace the progress of Economics as a branch of knowledge within the institutional framework of Christ University.  It will be covered by achieving two objectives namely by first tracing very briefly the evolution of Christ University from an affiliated college to a deemed university and second by the movements as well as shifts that have occurred in the content and position of economics in the institution through its transition. 

Christ University now officially designated as a 'deemed to be university', began as a college affiliated to Bangalore University in 1969.  Historically while the idea of affiliated colleges under a state university had been borrowed from model of the University of London, the choice of offering triple major courses at the undergraduate level was an adaptation of the Cambridge Tripos model.  At the post graduate level it is single subject majoring courses. So while at the undergraduate level a student can choose between programmes offering a B A in History, Economics and Political Science or B A in Economics, Political Science and Sociology, when it comes to post graduate programmes it is single majoring courses like M A. in Applied Economics or an M A in Applied Sociology etc. 

When the institution was an affiliated college the content of Economics was prescribed by Bangalore University.  Any creativity was possible only in the manner in which the content was taught in the class room.  If any modification to the content of the syllabus was sought to be done, it would have go through the rather circuitous process dictated by the university.  Collegiate teachers in the field could not exert any significant influence to modify as well as update the content of economics education in the affiliated institutions including Christ University then called Christ College.  However this trend underwent its first major shift when the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, initiated in a very proactive manner the granting of autonomy to affiliated colleges if they fulfill certain criteria.  An autonomous college would now have the liberty to modify 20% of the syllabus content and the state university would continue to be the degree awarding body.  It would have to be ratified by a Board of Studies consisting of the members of the subject department, in this case the department of economics, and two external subject experts along with a representative from the university.  This process was introduced into the Indian education system as a corollary to the larger paradigmatic shift in state policy in the 1990s, from being an interventionist state to a facilitating state that propagates greater freedom of markets and initiatives in the private domain.  In line with this paradigmatic change in the policy of the state, many changes were introduced into the economics syllabus at Christ since it was given autonomous status in 2005. 

At this time the Masters programme in Economics was started.  One additional element to the background of the starting of the post graduate studies in economics in Christ College was that the college already had a very vibrant Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme which had two full courses in Economics.  Further it was also a time when the MBA course was perceived very positively by the public of the city as a professional course capable of creating employability in individuals.  It created a mood of trepidation as to whether the M A Economics programme could attain popularity and so be sought after, considering the public affinity to management courses.  So within the masters in economics programme a management stream of specialisation courses was introduced.  But over time the department began to acquire good quality and young human resources which enabled it to shed away its dependence on typical management courses for its academic and market standing and this was institutionalised by Christ College being granted the 'deemed to be university' status by the government of India in 2008.  With the academic freedom this structural institutional change provided, two specialisation streams, one focusing on finance and the other on development studies were put into the postgraduate economics programme.  In the last three years two important changes were also brought in – induction of cutting edge courses in the domain of political economy and institutional analysis. 

Parallel to these trajectories taking place at the post graduate level, the undergraduate syllabus also experienced transformation.  One of the most important has been the introduction of an honours stream in the final year of the undergraduate programme.  Students would be selected through a rigorous selection process from the triple major programmes of history-economics-political science, economics-political science-sociology and psychology-sociology-economics.  The number of student intake was limited to 40 and this programme eventually became a competitive branch of the undergraduate programmes in the institution.  In fact following the lead taken by the Department of Economics, other departments such as psychology and English began to adopt the model.  The unique proposition in this programme has been the introduction of a thesis as a full-fledged paper in an undergraduate programme, which would have to be defended by the student in an open defense observed and evaluated by an external research expert. 

A few years after the honours stream was introduced some major changes have been made to the traditional triple major programmes having economics as one of the subjects.  While the traditional courses that transact the dominant received knowledge in economics have been retained, new skill and research based courses have been brought in specifically for the senior third year undergraduate students.  The undergraduate students in Christ have been enduring a disadvantage with respect to their quantitative capability in comparison to students in the rest of the country.  At the same time the faculty of the department knew that although quantitative capability helps to capture evidence for claims made in economics, it is not economic theory.  It means quantitative capability does not have an independent existence but is useful within a framework of organised search i.e. within a research paradigm.   So a super specialisation course called Health Economics was replaced with another compulsory course - Research Methodology along with Statistics.  As this course is compulsory it would benefit all students who take up the undergraduate economics programme.  Further to enable some students who may develop a fascination for computational economics through these experiences, two new specialisation optional courses are being offered and they are Econometrics and Financial Economics.  At the pedagogic domain many new initiatives have been started such as guided library reading, journal writing, course work assignments and tutorials for weak students.

Thus the discipline of Economics in Christ University has passed through several milestones and transformational shifts in its evolution.  It has moved from a very mundane area of study to a vibrant domain of intellectual engagement.  One of the most vital reasons for this is the innate desire and passion for teaching as well as research that members of the faculty possess.  The hope is this transformation in the academic components of economics in Christ University will begin to inform serious research questions in the future and eventually contribute to elevating the Department of Economics into a School of Economics.

Note: The above essay has been written as a chronicle of experiences in the evolution and movement of Economics as a discipline of knowledge in Christ University.  The traditional form of date based chronological chronicling has not been used.  Dates have been very sparsely used.

History of Electrical and Electronics Engg. at Christ University

Roll no:1447401

Electrical and Electronics Engineering concerns itself with practical applications of  both high and low currents. The comparative strength of the electric current used makes the distinction of higher current applications as electrical and lower current applications as electronics.With progress in technology, applications became dependant. Electrical Engineering today has become an amalgamation of high current applications with low current devices.

In many Universities around the world, study of Electrical Engineering or Electronic Engineering is treated as simply specializations of same discipline- Electrical Engineering. Universities in India shifted from conventional name of Electrical Engineering to Electrical and Electronics to bring to the forefront the integration of applications.

Christ University is situated in Bangalore,India.Christ University came in to existence in the year 1969 and is managed by the priests of Carmelite of Mary Immaculate. The University began its journey as Christ College and it was granted the status of Deemed University under Section 3 of the UGC Act 2008. Faculty of Engineering at Christ University started in 2009 and the Dept of EEE (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) came in to the existence in the year 2011. The goal of the Department is to create Engineers of high technical skills in the Electrical & Electronics field suitable for employment in reputed firms and for higher studies. The Department caters to the ever increasing needs of technical brilliance in all areas of Electrical and Electronics Engineering such as Power Systems,Power Electronics,Integrated Electronics & Circuits, Telecommunications and Control & Automation

The Department has witnessed substantial growth in all areas of activity since its inception. The rapid technological advancement in the field makes it increasingly difficult to be rigid in terms of course curriculum and teaching methodologies.  The curriculum prescribed by the department has gone through reviews and revisions to reflect the developments in the field of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. The Department also offers today the M.Tech Programme in Power Systems. Well equipped laboratories, for both under graduate and post graduate programmes have been established in four years of its inception. Research activities have also evolved in the Department as minor research projects and monographs funded by the University. Renewable Energy and High Voltage Engineering are  areas of ongoing  research work  at the University.

The discipline EEE stands for Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the department itself believes in EEE- 'Enrich, Energize and Excel '