COLLEGE DAY REPORT – 2009-2010. Education today is acknowledged as the fundamental method of social progress and reform. In alignment with this goal all activities of the college are focused on the development of a wholesome personality in the students. The idea is to make them confident , socially conscious and responsible for making a difference in the lives of people around them. Greetings and Wishes on the occasion of Loyola Academy’s Annual Day celebrations to each and every one of you gathered here ,especially to our beloved students, who are the fulcrum of this institution. We are honoured by the presence of our Chief Guest, Prof. Jeyaprakash Rao, Vice Chairman, State Council for Higher Education. I accord a cordial welcome to our chief guest. Welcome to the management members, Fr.Dr. G.A.P. Kishore Rector, Fr.C.J.John, Correspondent, Fr. Lingareddy Joji, Vice Pricnipal, Undergraduate courses, Fr. K.Stanislaus, S.J., Vice Principal for Post Graduate courses. Dean of Arts and Commerce Fr.I.John Soosaimanickam, Jesuits fathers of the management, Dean of Science Dr.Krishna Kumar, lecturers, non teaching staff, supporting staff. Special welcome to the well wishers and parents, Let me thank God Almighty and Mother Mary for blessing all the members of this institution and showering numerous graces upon us throughout this academic year. LA is born out of the dreams of great visionaries … In line with Jesuit higher education traditions, under the dynamic leadership of Late Rev.Fr.Balaiah Loyola academy with a Junior college and a degree college were founded in 1976. All the stake holders of Loyola Academy will be ever grateful to then Chief Minister Vegnal Rao who allotted a vast campus for educational services. Much water has flown since then. A special mention must be made of the pioneers of this institution. Late Fr.U.Paul Satyanaryana, Late Fr. Mathew Vattakunnel, Fr J.Thaninese, Fr. Innaiah, Br. Balasamy, Fr. Philip, Fr. V. Amalanadhan, Fr. Lourduraj and many more Jesuits for their yeomen services to this institution. Thanks to their bold and courageous vision, Loyola Academy has grown to its present position. Today, Loyola Academy is an autonomous college with 17 job oriented U.G. courses. It is heartening to note that placements are quite high in our college at the undergraduate level. At the PG level, there are four courses. We fervently hope to get PG autonomy too within a year or two. And above all, this year, consecutively for the third time, India Today has rated Loyola Academy as number in the Twin cities. CHANGE OF GUARD Loyola Academy is greatly indebted to Rev. Fr. A. Francis Xavier, S.J., who was the principal of Loyola Academy for eight years and strived hard along with the dedicated band of staff teaching and non-teaching to help propel the college to a number one status in the city. Similarly I acknowledge the services of Fr. K. Casimir Raj, Rector and Correspondent who worked relentlessly for the infrastructural development of this institution. He is temporarily away to complete his Ph.D. work. Loyola Academy is happy to welcome our correspondent who was also Principal of this college for a period of two years. Welcome back to Rev.Fr. K. Stanislaus, S.J., who went over to XLRI, Jamshedpur to complete an administrative professional diploma. AUTONOMY REVIEW A high level Autonomy review committee consisting of an expert committee consisting of the Chairman, Prof. Ramchandran former V.C. Chennai, Prof. Balasubramanian, former Prof. of Education, Madras University, Prof. G. Venkat Rajam, Dean College Development Council, Osmania University and Dr. G. Srinivas, Joint Secretary UGC South Eastern Regional Office, Hyderabad visited our college on the 23.09.09 and evaluated the performance of our institution. A week ago we were happy to receive the Government order for renewal of autonomy for another period of 6 years. Loyola academy is greatly indebted to U.G.C, in particular to the regional office for the extension of autonomy. Thanks to UGC for awarding us with CPE project, which culminates this academic year. For the past four years, we have been spending UGC grants in strengthening the science labs, establishment of language labs, improving our facilities and establishing ICT centre. Besides CPE we were granted Basic Research projects for each laboratory. We are greatly indebted to the UGC for constantly supporting college development programmes. NATIONAL SEMINARS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS A two day National Seminar on Embedded Systems sponsored by APSCHE was held on Dec 4th & 5th, 09 at LOYOLA ACADEMY under the leadership of Mrs. K. Rama, the H.O.D. of Electronics Dept. FOOD SECURITY AND PRESERVATION A two-day National Convention on Food Security and Preservation was held on 27th & 28th Jan.’10. The Resource Persons, Managing Director of AP Foods, Managing Director of AP Vijaya Dairy, Dr. Vijaya Khader from ANGRAU and Mr. Srinivas Maloo from Osmania University, gave an insight into the emerging technological trends in the food industry and bright career prospects awaiting the students. 100 students and 10 faculty members from various colleges attended the Convention. NANO TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY Two-Day National level seminar on ‘Nano Trends in Biotechnology’ was organized by the Post Graduate department of Biotechnology sponsored by UGC & ICMR on 5-6th February, 2010 at Loyola Academy Degree & P.G. College, Secunderabad-500 010. This interdisciplinary seminar provided a platform for the biotech scientists, physicists and chemists to exchange notes on the upcoming trends in nanotechnology. QUALITY ENHANCEMENT VIS-À-VIS AUTONOMY A two day national workshop, sponsored by NAAC Bangalore was conducted on 26th and 27th February, 2010 in which delegates from Pune, Vishakapatinam, Vijayawada, Eluru along with all 150 degree staff members participated and presented papers, What was unique about this workshop is that the satellite sessions provided ample time for all the presenters to speak to the audience and participate in discussions. Eminent educationists and academicians contributed to the motivational lectures. The galaxy of educationists included the following names, Prof. Narasimhalu, director Academic Staff College, Central University, Prof. Laximipathi Rao, IQAC, Co ordinator, Osmania Unviersity, Prof. Vishwaeshwara Rao, Dean of Arts, Osmania, Rev.Sr.Dr. Tresa Cherian, Principal, Theresa College Eluru, Rev. Fr. Dr. A. Francis Xavier, S.J. Principal Andhra Loyola College. Prior to this workshop an evaluative survey of the autonomous colleges in Andhra Pradesh was conducted by our IQAC Co coordinator Mrs. Agna Joseph of the Department of Commerce and the findings were used as a launch pad for this workshop. ACADEMIC NEW VENTURES CHOICE BASED CREDIT SYSTEM Choice based credit system has been introduced. All the first year degree students have to dedicate the stipulated number of hours for community service activities and complete their foundation courses. When they go to the second year, each one will do a certificate course choosing one out of 15 courses available in the college. In they third year they study subject electives and skill based electives, as well complete their internship project and face the viva Voce. On an average each student has to complete 140 credits to get their undergraduate degrees. EXAMINATION REFORM The internal examination held until now for a three hour duration both .id semester exams I and II have been reduced to two hours duration, centralized Weekly test have been decentralized and different types of exams other than written exams have been introduced. Novel exams types include quiz, slip test, unannounced tests, online exams, open book exams, oral tests etc according to the nature of the subject and the creativity of the examiner. ON LINE EXAMINATION The Dept. of Computer Science, as part of their in-house projects, developed software for online examination and conducted a workshop on Online Examination Software System. It also developed a website for inter-departmental activities. Mr.Vipin Ranka and his team had gave an excellent presentation of the online exam system. With a sense of pride, it was a pleasure to watch these young minds educating their teachers on the use of latest technology. MENTORING Each lecturer is entrusted with a group of 10 to 15 students, a mentoring log book has been given and the lecturers periodically enter the remarks in the book. Personal care shown by our vice principals and staff members is commendable. CERTIFICATE COURSES The Dept of Electronics has conducted two new certificate course in EMBEDDED ‘C’ and Repair & Maintenance of Electrical & Electronic Equipments. The Dept of Mass communications is going start a summer certificate course on, “Television Production”. This is sponsored by UGC. INFRA STRUCTURE Establishment of highly sophisticated animation design lab and biotechnology laboratories with facilities for research are added to our existing infrastructure. Reverse osmosis plant with 200 litres of clean drinking water is increased to 1000 litres. LIBRARY Reading maketh a ready man! A Library is the back bone of a learning centre. Loyola Academy is enriched with a collection of 33008 books. In this academic year 1331 new books have been added. New Gen Lib Software has been installed to improve effective automation in our library. Internet based e-learning centre will soon start functioning. 12 computers from Cyber world will be shifted to the Library. Thanks to the efforts of Fr.John Soosaimanickam and Mr.D.Vittal Rao, our Librarian for the second time again the library week was celebrated on 14th, 15th and 16th of Nov., 2009. Mr. D. Vittal Rao presented a paper entitled, “ Use of Internet by the Staff of Loyola Academy: A Survey” at 11th Manlibnet Convention at Siva Sivanit Institute of Management, Secunderabad on 16-02-2010. STAFF TRAINING On June 10th and 11th a special orientation programme was conducted for the degree and post graduate staff members on NAAC reaccreditation.