Assessment Report of
Institutional Accreditation of
S.N.D.T. Women’s University
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Section 1: Preface
SNDT Women’s University is the first Women’s University established in the country. The genesis of the university can be traced back to the year 1886 when Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve started his social movement for the cause of women’s upliftment against the mounting social injustice to women. He conceived the idea of establishing a women’s university in 1914. In August 1915, he gathered information from a pamphlet from Japan on the functioning of a women’s university founded in that country in 1900. This prompted him to establish at an early date a women’s university. In the year 1916, he established a women’s university in Pune where women were given education and training in various professions. Within five years of its establishment, in 1921 this university was recognized as Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Indian Women’s University functioning at Pune. In 1936, the university was shifted to Mumbai and was accommodated in Mhatre Building (in Chowpatty). However, this was again shifted to Churchgate in 1939, which is the present campus. In 1949, the government recognised this university as Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University (SNDT University). It got the statutory recognition in 1951. Due to wide expansion in the academic activities in 1968 the Juhu Campus was established. Thus, the university has now campuses at 3 places, namely, Churchgate & Juhu in Mumbai and the third in Pune. The university has increased its activities enormously between 1916 and 1979 and so it has started conducted colleges. Now they have 11 conducted colleges in Mumbai at Churchgate and Juhu campuses and in the Pune Campus. The names of the colleges and the year of establishment are given below:
1. SNDT Arts & Commerce College for Women (Pune): 1916
2. SNDT College of Arts & SCB College of Commerce & Economics for Women (Mumbai): 1931
3. L.T. College of Nursing (Mumbai): 1951
4. PVDT College of Education for Women (Mumbai): 1959
5. SVT College of Home Science (Juhu): 1959, Autonomous in 1995
6. SNDT College of Education for Women (Pune*): 1964
7. SNDT College of Home Science for Women (Pune): 1968
8. P.V. Polytechnic (Juhu): 1976
9. SHPT School of Science (Juhu): 1979
10. C.U. Shah College of Pharmacy (Juhu): 1980
11. Institute of Technology for Women (Juhu): 1997
These colleges under the university teach different U.G. & P.G. courses under various faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, Fine Arts, Education, Home science, Library and Information Science, Nursing, Technology and Management Studies. Other than these they also have academic service units like Educational Technology, Guidance & Counselling and Language Teaching. The other departments are the Department of Continuing & Adult Education and Extension Work at Churchgate and Pune campuses, Centre for Distance Education at Juhu Campus, Canadian Studies Centre at the Churchgate Campus and Research Centre for Women’s Studies at the Juhu Campus.
A major feature of S.N.D.T. Women’s University is its constituent colleges offering a wide spectrum of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and diplomas. There are three such colleges in the Churchgate campus viz. (i) Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing, (ii) P.V.D.T. College of Education for Women, and (iii) S.N.D.T. College of Arts & SCB College of Commerce & Economics for Women, two colleges at the Juhu campus viz. (i) C.U. Shah College of Pharmacy and (ii) Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic and lastly, three colleges at the campus at Pune viz. (i) S.N.D.T. Arts & Commerce College for Women, (ii) S.N.D.T. College of Education for Women and (iii) S.N.D.T. College of Home Science.
The colleges have developed a culture of sharing facilities, which results in optimum utilization of resources. There are central libraries, sports facilities, hostels etc. on the campus, used by all the colleges in each campus. Space in the main academic buildings is also shared by more than one institution, sometimes working in two shifts.
The academic support services and central facilities of the University at Juhu and Churchgate campus are – Computer Center, University Library, two Study Centres, Children’s Library, National Information Centre, MINISIS Resource Centre – supported by IDRC, Ottawa to provide training and services and Central Equipment Facilities. They have a number of auditoriums in all the campuses.
For student facilities, they have three students’ hostels, three canteens and foreign students’ support facilities, medical check up centre and Manoshakti, which is a Crisis Intervention Centre.
The university undertakes community oriented extension work initiatives at the following Centres: Palghar Health Initiatives of Nursing College, Centre for Rural Development at Juhu Campus and at Udwada in Gujarath, CFBP Testing Laboratory at Juhu Campus and Community Polytechnic at Vajreshwari and Rural Development project at Bhavnagar, Gujarat. They also have extension activities for the development of urban slums in Mumbai.
The university being a state-run with constituent colleges, also has jurisdiction over affiliate colleges at the national level. The university has 20 liberal arts and science colleges affiliated to it spread across the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The university extends recognition to national institutions that provide research, training leading to research degrees, like BARC, National Council for Software Technology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, National Institute of Nutrition and Gujarat Research Society.
SNDT Women's University volunteered to be assessed for the purpose of accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. Accordingly, the University submitted a self-study report in December 1999 to NAAC, which then constituted a Peer Team to visit the institution for assessment. The NAAC Peer Teamconsisted of the following members: Dr. Navaneeth Rao (Chairperson), Dr. Jaya Kothai Pillai (Member), Dr. Hemlata Swarup (Member) and Dr. P.K. Chaudhuri (Member). The Peer Team visited the university between the 24th and 26th February 2000.
During their stay the team visited all the academic, administrative and supporting facilities in the campus, interacted extensively with various segments of the academic community and scrutinized all the relevant documents. Discussions were held with the members of the Management Council, the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, the faculty, the staff, students, parents and the alumni. On the basis of the judicious analysis of the self-study report, the extensive visits and discussions the Peer Team has had on the campus and in the light of the well-defined criteria formulated by NAAC, the Peer Team assessed the quality of education imparted at the SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. The assessment is presented below in terms of the criterion-wise approach and over-all analysis.
Section 2: Criterionwise Analysis
The university offers a wide range of programmes, certificate and diploma courses, bachelor degree programmes, post graduate diploma and degree courses as well as continuing and adult education and extension work courses, distance education courses and custom made, short term, need based, specially designed courses for vacations.
Ph.D. and M.A. programmes are available in 27 subjects, M.Phil. in 13 subjects, P.G. diploma in 25, U.G. degree courses in 30 and polytechnic and certificate courses in 43 subjects. The courses come under the faculties of arts, fine arts, social sciences, commerce, home science, nursing, pharmacy, education, electronics and telecommunication, information science, computer science and management studies.
Keeping pace with the changing demands of the changing society and changing times, the university has been striving to introduce great dynamism in the conventional disciplines. New dimensions have been added to the traditional courses to prepare for the newer job markets and relevant to the local and national needs. The growth trend has been from conventional disciplines through progressive areas to the professional areas.
Besides these, some very useful and innovative courses in jewellery design and manufacturing, physiotherapy, medical chemistry, special education, computer-aided textile designing, sports science and nutrition, neo-natal nursing etc. have also been introduced.
The constituent and affiliated colleges of the university have introduced vocational courses recommended by the UGC, such as computer application, advertising and sales promotion, food science and quality control, office management and secretarial practice, principles and practices of insurance, still photography, travel and tourism management and communicative English.
Major restructuring of the curricula for a subject is done usually after trying it out for three years. Besides the regular Boards of Studies, expert committees and national curricular sources, feedback from alumni, employers, students and teachers is considered while reviewing academic programmes.
The special mission of the university since its inception has been enlightenment and empowerment of women. The programmes offered are in general conformity with the mission and goals. Access to higher education for all women of all ages and stages of development is ensured by multi-entry points in both the formal and non-formal streams of education. The multiple language media facilitates access to many first generation learners of higher education. The distance education programme reaches women over long distances with region specific courses.
The Foundation Courses have been redesigned to include perspectives on women. Entrepreneurship courses are offered at three levels.
In addition to curricular thrusts, seminars and discussions are organised for gender sensitization. Most of the courses which are need-based have field based practising internship, action projects and seminars in-built into the curriculum.
The university-community-industry networking has been established in almost all the departments and these linkages are used for internship, on the job training, research projects and extension work.
Among the conducted colleges, there seems to be a difference between the Arts and Commerce colleges and the professional colleges in respect of recruitment of teachers from the same institution and participation of teachers in national and international conferences. The teachers should be helped to get adequate exposure to the academic world outside through seminars and workshops.
Students are admitted to courses through special entrance tests, interviews, academic record, group discussion and as per government norms. The university and its colleges are known for their regularity in teaching. More than 90% of the classes are conducted at all times and 80-85% student attendance is reported.
Teaching methods are participative and include lectures, practicals, projects, library assignments, field visits, paper presentation, case studies, seminars, guided self-study etc.
Teachers are recruited on merit by selection committees constituted as per the university statutes. Newly appointed teachers are given orientation in teaching methods and gender sensitization.
When new courses are introduced, the teachers are helped to keep abreast of the recent interdisciplinary developments in their respective subject areas through refresher courses. The teachers also ‘sit in’ during the guest lectures by subject experts along with the students.
The university regularly conducts computer training for teachers and other administrative staff through in-house training.
Internal assessment is practised in all departments and 30 to 60% weightages are given in the various departments. The university uses a mix of central valuation, door valuation and double valuation and has provision for retotalling and revaluation where necessary. A unique feature of the university, since its inception, is the provision of education through vernaculars and students are permitted to write their examination scripts in the languages of their choice.
The university follows self-appraisal method for evaluation of teachers and these appraisals are analyzed and feedback is given to the teachers by the review officers concerned. Some departments use student evaluation for their own improvement. A structured mechanism to collect feedback from the students should be developed and the departments should be encouraged to collect and analyze the feedback and take corrective measures.
The university has many national and international contacts with organisations like the British Council, USIS, USEFI, International Development Research Centre, Canada, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, CSIR, NIEPA, NCERT, SCERT, International Life Sciences Institute, USA and collaboration with the University of Regina, Canada; Thomas Valley University, London etc. in research and extension projects.
Faculty members and students have been continuously winning many honours and awards, and during 1998 the state level best teacher award was won by a faculty member. Awards from many professional associations and Sahitya Academy also have been won by the faculty members.
National, international and state level conferences and seminars are regularly conducted by the University departments and colleges, with focus on current issues such as AIDS awareness, population, environment, education of disabled children, gender equality and empowerment, human resources development etc.
A special mention should be made of the colleges of Home Science & Pharmacy and particularly the Polytechnic, have been making professionals who are much in demand in the industrial world in and around Mumbai. All the colleges are, however, pursuing the declared mission of empowerment of women through education with zeal and sincerity for which SNDT Women’s University has earned a niche for itself in the country.
Criterion III: Research, Consultancy and Extension
Conforming to the special mission and goals of the institution, the university heavily leans towards the extension component. Individual departments conduct several community outreach programmes and special mention should be made about the efforts of the Centre for Rural Development, Home Science Department and the Department of Continuing & Adult Education and Extension work (CAEE) in community mobilisation for participatory development, improving health and nutritional status of women and children, empowerment of destitute women, women headed families and skill training for resource generation. TRYSEM, DWCRA, ARWIND are some of the schemes of the Centre for Rural Development.
30% of the faculty are actively involved in research, guiding research scholars and operating projects. 187 scholars have registered for full time research work. The departmental research committees facilitate and monitor research in their respective departments. Some of the ongoing research studies in the various departments are as follows: Absenteeism among students, Computer Assisted Education, Women’s Writing, Comparative Literature, Women in History, Socio Linguistics, Thesaurus Development, Internet and Web, Folk Music, Stress and Health, Environment, Gender and Society, Artificial Intelligence and Quality Control, Learning Disabilities, Textile Processing, Inflation Accounting, Sports Nutrition. Land use pattern, Ageing etc.
Research culture is promoted and sustained in all departments and colleges.
The P.G. students are required to take up micro studies in their respective disciplines, in partial fulfillment of requirement for their degrees.
Major and Minor research projects of the UGC and other funding agencies are being conducted by the faculty members. The Research Centre for Women’s Studies the first to be established in any Indian University has done commendable work and has come to be recognized as a national and international resource centre. The UGC’s scheme of special assistance programme is operative in the departments of education, home science, Gujarati, English and special education.
The university’s Publication Board has been established as per the Maharashtra Universities Act of 1994 and supports the publication of the Research Journal, textbooks, reference books, theses, dissertations etc.
The university believes in ‘helping, guiding and advising’ functions and hence they do not pursue any formal remunerative consultancy work. However, some departments have involved themselves in small consultancy projects such as Food testing, Information services, nutrition counseling on nominal return.
The university, because of its prestige and ideal location in Mumbai, can offer consultancy services to the industry and the community in general. Some of the departments should be encouraged to offer such services and generate resources for enhancing their own facilities.
There is a rich tradition of extension work at the university. All the conducted colleges have diverse extension activities, each working in areas suited to its own expertise. The colleges generate a large volume of research and instructional material. However, much of this has not been published.
The SNDT Women’s University is in a continuous process of expanding its programmes. The requirements of building and teaching-learning space have been met by new constructions, redesigning space and renovation, staggered timings and sharing common facilities for effective and optimal utilisation of infrastructural facilities.
Existing infrastructure has been properly maintained through the services of professional and skilled staff and through service contracts, e.g. for sanitation, canteen, Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) etc.
Centralised facilities like library, computers, committee rooms, halls, auditorium, sports facilities and telecommunication facilities like telephones, E-Mail, fax services and STD lines are available to all departments and colleges.
The Library is the nerve-centre of a learning institution. Advisory committee, inter-library exchange, reprographic facilities, and computerised catalogue of books in English (1996) and vernacular (1999) and computerisation of library services like LAN, CD ROM, bibliographic material, internet search and downloading facility, in-house papers, a database of Indian Websites make the library extremely useful for both staff and students.
A special feature is the hosting of the National Information Centre and dissemination and search services in specialised fields like sociology, women’s studies, home science, special education, library science and documentation of literature on women’s studies. The user education programme of differing duration as per need is another unique feature.
The Acquisition of books and journals and their availability through open access to P.G., M.Phil. & Ph.D. students is helpful. The same facility should be extended to U.G. students also.
Apart from centralized computer services with desk-top printing facility, computer aided learning packages and individual computers in most of the departments is a healthy trend.
Sports are a special feature on all its three campuses. Physical Education teachers ensure the participation of students at district, state and national level programmes. Students have won awards at all levels. The university encourages them through material incentives and appreciation meets.
The university has three hostels, which can accommodate about a thousand students. But the demand is much more. A hostel is being extended. Canteen and guest house are also there. A much bigger guest house, however, is required for its various activities. The overall infrastructure facilities are satisfactory, but more hostel space, guest houses, and staff housing would be desirable and would promote campus life interaction.
The institution collects feedback from students regularly and publishes its updated prospectus annually.
For progression to employment and further study, each department/institution has informal contacts for career counselling and tutorial sessions for academic counselling. The university’s academic service unit, the Department of Guidance and Counselling, the Department of Psychology, Crisis Intervention Centre (Manoshakti), and HELPLINE of the ACEÉ offer help. Faculty substantially help with personal counselling. More than 75% students were employed through these services in 1997-98.
The university, however, will do better with a formal Placement Cell and campus interviews to ensure employment and upward movement to the students in all its centres.
A separate Department of Student Welfare and NSS Cell ensure training, regular cultural and welfare services and community outreach ensures a well-planned attempt to develop an all-round personality and empowered self-image. Theatre dance, music, fine arts, debates etc. all have been encouraged for participation in regional and national youth festivals. Stipends and scholarships are a few general features of Student Welfare.
The institution has an alumnae association. The alumnae are highly appreciative of the standard of teaching, personal care taken by teachers and the self-confidence built in students. Discipline oriented meetings / associations also provide a platform for alumnae interaction. The university may do well to activise the Alumni Association for its requirements of expansion, maintenance, employment etc.
The admission policy of the institution with regard to overseas students is encouraging. The support services given to them are Induction courses, socio-cultural activities and informal ‘Teacher Guides’, Local student-liaison has also been established.
The recreational / leisure time facilities available to students on the campus are chess, carnom, yoga classes, T.V. in common room and outdoor games. The university may ensure universal participation of students in NCC/NSS/physical education activities.
The Vice-Chancellor is the principal academic and administrative head of the university. The Senate has authority over financial matters and provides general guidance to the university in respect of social needs and relevance. However, the authority of making statutes and ordinances and forwarding the same to the Senate rests with the Management Council. The Academic Council and the Board of Examinations are responsible for making and implementing policies on teaching and research and conducting examinations, respectively. The Board of College and University Development plans and monitors the academic and physical development of colleges and university departments. There are other bodies like Boards of Studies, Library Committee, Board of Adult & Continuing Education and Extension Activities etc., monitoring activities in respective fields. The Registrar acts as the Secretary to the Senate, Management Council in addition to duties prescribed by the University Act.
The university holds staff meetings for officers as well as others and conducts workshops and orientation programme to improve functioning of its office. Violation of code of conduct is rare.
Recruitment of academic and administrative staff is governed by the University Act and a special cell ensures implementation of the state reservation policy.
The university fees are moderate and are as per government rules, except for the self-financing courses. A large amount of resource is raised by the university, both in cash and kind, through donations, self-financing courses and grants from UGC and other funding agencies. The university faculty offers various consultancy services, which, if charged at even a moderate rate, would help the university to raise more resources.
Even though welfare schemes are formulated, some areas have scope for improvement. There is an effective grievance redressal mechanism for the whole institution and authorities at different levels receive and redress the grievances in accordance with Section 57 of the Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994. There is a system of internal audit, which ensures best utilisation of resources by plugging unnecessary expenditure.
The geographical jurisdiction of the university is the entire country. However, the University can affiliate an institution in a State other than Maharashtra only with approval of the State Government concerned. In order that the benefits of the courses developed by SNDT Women’s University can reach a larger population of the country.
Criterion VII: Healthy Practices
The university observes many healthy practices due to which large number of students throng for admissions. It offers a complementary system like self-financing courses and need-based courses and in some departments modular curriculum is provided. In most of the departments there are application-oriented courses, which attract many students. They provide free medical check up and for needy and deserving students financial assistance at department and college levels. The University provides remedial programme and also programme for developing language skills to weaker sections of students. Welfare schemes are provided for the faculty and the supporting staff. The staff is provided the facility of joining development programme which can enhance their capabilities. Free access to the Library and its services is available to both teaching and non-teaching staff. The Staff Relief Committee consisting of officers and faculty members nominated by the Vice-Chancellor and the union representatives meet frequently for providing required help as and when necessary. Teacher-student relationship is excellent due to which better academic atmosphere prevails on the two city campuses. In spite of the fact that there is shortage of staff and the double burden on women professionals, the inter-staff cooperation and interaction is excellent and creates a very positive environment for work satisfaction.
The Peer Team would like to commend the institution for the following aspects:
· The curriculum in various departments is revised and updated frequently to bring relevance.
· The academic programmes committees constructively interact with the Boards of Studies and prepare and offer programmes which are application oriented. This helps students to acquire skills or upgrading their skills.
· Some departments have introduced modular courses.
· The Distance Education department offers many programmes useful for students of all age groups and professions.
· The Department of Continuing Education provides specially designed courses to meet student needs.
· Some departments undertake extension activities and help the needy in providing needed education and skills.
· Some departments have been getting research schemes. However, there is a need to take up research more seriously in others.
· A few departments offer consultancy services. However, there is scope for other departments to extend consultancy in a big way.
· The central facilities like library and computer centre are being meaningfully used by many departments to develop academic and research activities.
· There is a very healthy and congenial relationship between teachers and students.
· The student counseling centre helps needy students.
· Another important facility, which is appreciated by students, is compulsory free medical check up of all students. The health centre constantly looks after the requirements of the students as and when needed.
· The university offers help to faculty and supporting staff for improving their qualifications, which helps them in vertical mobility in the profession.
· The university has constituted quality circle in the teaching and non-teaching sections.
The institution may consider the following for its future growth and development:
· There is need for the university to take steps to appoint the required teaching staff as early as possible which will improve the research and teaching in all departments.
· The demand for hostel accommodation by many students can be met by building more hostels.
· The university may help by providing financial support to faculty for attending international seminars and conferences.
· The facilities for games and sports may be enhanced and the physical education teaching programmes may be started.
· The university may establish a placement cell to help the students for better placements.
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