A novel initiative in self-financing sector

Updated on: Tuesday, January 12, 2010

In an effort to make itself a role model in the field of higher education, Mar Athanasios College for Advanced Studies (MACFAST), Thiruvalla, State's first private self-financing college, is planning to make education free for all its students from the next academic year.

“Our idea is to elevate the college from the self-financing mode to a self-sustaining one, making the otherwise expensive advance studies absolutely free for all students here,” says the college principal, Fr Abraham Mulamoottil.

Talking to The Hindu-EducationPlus, Fr Mulamoottil said MACFAST has chalked out certain innovative programmes that include the proposed ‘academy-industry interface', ‘corporate badging' and ‘corporate scholar' as part of the project.

He said the idea is to implement the programme in a phased manner. As a pilot project, students who are willing to work at various campus enterprises at MACFAST will be selected for the master of computer applications (MCA) course from the next academic year. The programme would be extended to various other postgraduate courses, including MBA, food science and technology, bio-technology and bio-Informatics in the subsequent years, he added.Students need not pay any tuition fee provided they are ready to work at various campus enterprises which would help them to fine-tune their skills. The mode of studies would also be redesigned taking into account the professional aptitude and calibre of the students and in consultation with various corporate bodies that have shown keen interest in the proposed programme.

MACFAST with accreditation from AICTE and affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University offers MCA and MBA courses as well as PG programmes in biosciences and food technology.

In order to impart training for students and to improve the academia-industry interaction, MACFAST is planning to launch a series of joint ventures in association with certain companies at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, Geojit BNP Paribas, Geojit Technologies and Geneseek Inc in the U.S., he said. According to Fr Mulamoottil, the industry is turning to colleges to fulfil their recruitment needs. However, a recent Nasscom survey indicates that 90 per cent of the Indian graduates are unemployable by IT/ ITeS companies. The MACFAST approach to address this problem is to provide facility for an academy-industry interface at the college itself, he adds.

Fr Mulamoottil said MACFAST has been working for a constructive academy-industry interface aimed at filling the gaps in the academic curriculum with the real industry requirements, besides focussing on the employability of students.

Dr. Abe Oommen, CEO of Geneseek Inc, had a meeting with the MACFAST bioscience faculty and the students recently. It was stressed at the meeting that the proposed academy-industry interface could help improve the quality of higher education system in the State. The proposed programme would facilitate setting up of a world-class training and research centre for bioscience students, creating a new trend of academy-industry collaboration, creating new avenues of jobs and setting up of an accredited centre for molecular diagnostics in Thiruvalla which, in the long run, will be upgraded to the level of a personalised genome sequencing centre, Fr Mulamoottil said .

Dr.Sunny Luke and Dr Thomas Matthews of Genesys Inc., New Jersey, in the U.S. have also proposed a collaborative venture with MACFAST. Their proposal involves setting up of a fully operational cytogenetic laboratory in Thiruvalla, centre for chromosome analysis and molecular testing of bone marrow and tissue biopsy aimed at training graduate students with guaranteed placements, he said.

Corporate badging

Fr Mulamoottil said MACFAST will also introduce a ‘corporate badging' scheme which could identify talented students with the right kind of aptitude, interest and passion that suit well to the requirements of the industry.

Under ‘corporate badging', students will be given opportunity to opt their companies and these companies will provide them with a ‘corporate badge'. Students who are badged will feel that they have become the integral part of the company and the company in turn will give them live projects and internships. The company will also closely monitor their academic performance and calibre before offering them placement.

A collaborative venture with Geojit BNP Paribas and Geojit Technologies is another MACFAST project which would provide opportunity for the students to associate themselves with these companies and stock exchanges across the world, Fr Mulamoottil said.

Incubation facility

Fr Mulamoottil says the start-up incubation facility will foster an entrepreneurship culture on the campus. It facilitates a lower cost structure in terms of infrastructure and labour costs. Campus hires are able to earn on campus while getting an industry perspective from within the campus, he said. MACFAST obtained accreditation from AICTE and is affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University offering MCA and MBA courses apart from other PG programmes in biosciences.

MACFAST has set up a plant tissue culture kiosk a year ago and has launched the State's first on-campus radio, Radio MACFAST-90.4, two months ago.

A novel initiative in self-financing sector

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