Self Study Report
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SELF STUDY REPORT FOR 4th CYCLE OF ACCREDITATION MERCY COLLEGE MERCY COLLEGE, PALLIPURAM POST, PALAKKAD, KERALA 678 006 678006 www.mercycollege.edu.in Submitted To NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL BANGALORE October 2019 Page 1/129 23-01-2020 02:43:41 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 INTRODUCTION Mercy College. Palakkad , Kerala is a Post Graduate Women’s College affiliated to the University of Calicut, Kerala. It is a Christian Minority College administered by Jai Christo C.M.C Educational Agency which comes within the religious jurisdiction of the Bishop of Palakkad. Started in the year 1964, Mercy College stands for academic excellence, development of skills and character formation based on the love of God and service of man. The College also aims at training women for the service of God and humanity. The College strives to become a center of learning par excellence, provide value-based education, promote quality education aimed at global competence, ensure an integrated development of individuals and empower women through education. The College was the first College under the University of Calicut to be accredited by NAAC with Four Star status and Re-accredited with an ‘A’ Grade in the second cycle and `A` Grade with CGPA of 3.32 in the third cycle subsequently. The College was ranked at 48th Position, 101-150 band and 150-200 band in the country in the NIRF Ranking 2017, 2018,2019 respectively by MHRD, Government of India. In addition, the five science departments of the College have been recognized and supported by DST-FIST Scheme. In keeping with the academic challenges, Mercy College has kept itself abreast of latest trends in its effort to impart quality higher education to women in a semi-urban locality like Palakkad. The College has twelve UG courses (Botany, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Biotechnology, Computer Science, Computer Applications, History, Mathematics, English, Commerce { with Finance } , Commerce { with Computer Applications } and Zoology), five PG courses (English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry , Botany , Commerce, Social Work and Economics) and a full-time/ part-time Ph. D programme in English. The College offers a Value add on course—Bio-Informatics by the Department of Zoology. The College also offers Certificate courses like Basic Computer course, Photography, Home Science, CA, CPT Entrance Coaching and PCC apart from offering Bridge courses for new entrants. The activities of the College are administered by the Principal, Vice-Principal, 96 faculty members and 1987 students. Vision Academic excellence, development of skills and character formation based on love of God and service of man as modelled in Jesus Christ. The College also aims at training women for the service of God and humanity. Mission Academic excellence, development of skills and character formation based on love of God and service of man as modelled in Jesus Christ. The College also aims at training women for the service of God and humanity. 1.2 Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Challenges(SWOC) Page 2/129 23-01-2020 02:43:41 Institutional Strength Efficient Management Only Women`s College in the district Good Infrastructure Moral instruction and value education Research culture Commendable performance in curricular and c0-curricular activities Community institution ventures encouraged Institutional Weakness Semi urban locality Lack of industrialist contacts Impossibility of generating funds Impossibility of introducing new aided courses due to government policies Institutional Opportunity Women Empowerment Only Women`s college with sports hostel and sports facilities Assured jobs due to sports achievements Providing research scholars with updated information on comparative research Availability of land Good community-college interface Institutional Challenge Page 3/129 23-01-2020 02:43:43 25% of the strength are from the backward communities Most students are first generation learners To enable students to be globally competent 1.3 CRITERIA WISE SUMMARY Curricular Aspects CURRICULAR ASPECTS: As Palakkad is an educationally backward district, most of the students are from rural areas and a minority are first generation learners. Since the College is an aided one, affiliated to the University of Calicut, it does not have the freedom to design its curriculum. However, there is flexibility in the case of certificate programmes. The syllabus for the three add-on courses –Human Rights and Values in Education, Bioinformatics and Biofertilizer Technology and the certificate courses have been designed by the Faculty members of the respective departments keeping in mind the scope of the subject opted for in the job market. Skill-oriented courses such as Computer Course, Photography Course, Home Science, C.A., CPT Entrance Coaching, PCC and Soft Skill Course are also offered and eminent resource persons are invited to impart update knowledge on the respective areas of knowledge. The Research Guides at the Research Centre for Comparative Studies, Department of English, devise their own course syllabus. The Institution also gives equal importance to the inculcation of moral and ethical values in the students. The Institution gives paramount Page 4/129 23-01-2020 02:43:43 importance to moral and ethical classes and two hours a week is set apart for imparting such values to students. Apart from this, an hour every is set aside for departmental activities such as talks, slideshows and other awareness programme related to academics. Since the University has adopted the Choice Based Credit Semester system, examinations are conducted twice a year. This is supplemented by two internal assessment exams conducted in the College. The students are graded through attendance, assignments, seminars, two written tests etc. Parents are asked to meet the concerned class teacher to procure their report cards. Certain training courses like Training on ornamental fisheries, Vermitechnology, aquarium maintenance etc. enhance the economic relevance and research aptitude of the students. Teaching-learning and Evaluation TEACHING, LEARNING AND EVALUATION:The admission norms are fixed by the University. Freshers who enter the College are given Special Bridge courses in their respective subjects. Remedial coaching is also provided for slow learners, enrichment and add-on courses help in filling the knowledge gap of the newly admitted students. Learning is made student-centric through adequate infrastructural facilities like Dissection labs, Research Labs, Virtual Labs, General Library and ICT based learning. Students are allotted to a tutor who is expected to keep record of the student’s performance in the College. Moral instruction hour and the ethics class hours provide an opportunity for the teacher and the taught to interact in an informal manner. Resource persons are invited in order to expose the faculty and students to advanced levels of learning. The members of the faculty are encouraged to attend seminars, present papers at national and international seminars and workshops, avail of funds for projects, publish papers and books and also visit other institutions as resource persons/visitors to update their knowledge in their respective subjects. The College also conducts programmes on Legal Rights, Health, Child rights, Geriatrics, Gender inclusion, Environment, Life Guidance classes(for final U.G. and P.G. students) and Counselling in an effort to sensitize its students on important issues. All efforts are focused on finishing the syllabus well ahead of the exams. The effort of the faculty and the College in this direction is evidenced in the University results with some departments having hundred percent success rates and most departments averaging at least ninety percent. Termly action plan and internal exams are conducted on time. The details of the working days, holidays and examination are communicated to the students well in advance through the College Calendar. Each Department documents the weekly and monthly workload assigned to it thereby facilitating the smooth functioning of the teaching-learning and evaluation process. Research, Innovations and Extension The College promotes a research culture keeping in mind the importance of Research, Consultancy and Extension as major dimensions of Quality Higher Education. Currently the Department of English is functioning with a Research Centre on Comparative Studies and other science PG departments are making efforts towards the establishment of Research Centres. There are twelve students pursuing Ph.D programme in the Centre .Regular Research Forum meetings in which scholars and students participate are a regular feature of the Centre and this promotes an interdisciplinary approach towards research. The in-house Research Journals like Scientia, Jiggyasa and Pursuits encourage students and faculty to publish in these journals. For the past six years, twenty one projects have been completed out of which are both Major and Minor projects. The total fund mobilized for the purpose is Rs. 51,33, 650/- Each Department also publishes Manuscript and Wall magazines to foster research culture among students. The social commitment of the College is reflected in the wide range of extension activities carried out in the College. Extension Programmes like NSS, NCC, Nature Club, Tourism Club, Folklore Club Social Service League, Women’s Cell, AICUF and Compulsory Social Service offer a Page 5/129 23-01-2020 02:43:44 variety of programmes for students. The activities involve a wide range of activities like