The Higher Education Review

DA Pandu Memorial RV Dental College (DAPMRVDC) has been pioneering educational institution that emphasizes on learner centred dental education providing optimal patient centred dental services. The standards of the institute are set to conform to the regional, national and global dental educational needs. This standalone dental college attached with multispecialty hospital is located on a five acre campus in the heart of the city of Bangalore.

It aspires to cement their legacy in the Indian higher education realm through the quality of education they provide. At DAPMRVDC, the learning experience of the students is always supported by state-of the art equipment and the latest educational material in dentistry. It strives to bring about strong community relationships and become an institute of excellence in dental education and to bring out quality dental professionals who would be an asset to the society.

Nurturing Inspired learners the college offers both Bachelor of Dental Surgery with an intake of 60 students and Master of Dental Surgery courses in all nine specialties. The college also offers Diploma and Certificate programs in select specialties. All the departments of the college are approved PhD Centres under the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka with 14 PhD guides available. DAPMRVDC conducts professional development programs viz Continuing Education programs, hands on workshops for faculty and student enrichment to meet the changing trends.

The teaching faculty makes sure that they transfer their decades of clinical experience combined with the most advanced innovations in the world of dental technology to the students. All these have helped DAPMRVDC to not only stand out from other institutions in the Indian higher education realm but it has also

allowed them to equip their students with the needed skills required to thrive in the world.

While talking more about the internship program, Dr. Asha R Iyengar who is the Principal & Professor at DAPMRVDC adds "We have a robust internship program to make the students ready for professional arena. Peripheral postings set up in various backgrounds for practicing dentistry at the community level, hospital level and individual practice level make the students tune their skills to suit such needs. The institution has an international collaboration with Showa University School of Dentistry, Japan for faculty and students exchange and collaboration that encompasses development of leadership programs and training courses".

“DAPMRVDC has organized 500+ conferences in the past five years and the faculty and students together have made more than 600 presentations in the international and national forums”

At DAPMRVDC, utmost importance is given to the holistic development of their students. The institution always encourages the students to participate in multitudes of sports and cultural activities and these venues help students to show off their extra-curricular skills. Students of the institution have also participated in various state level and national level sports and cultural events and brought accolades to the college by winning.

Growing Stronger Consistently
At DAPMRVDC, the students have ample opportunities to further the growth in their career owing to the large network that the college has built with other academic institutions at national and international level. A number of students passed out from this institution hold consultant and managerial positions in Hospitals, Corporate Dental Chains, Dental Product Industry, Clinical Research, and Public Health Institutes.

Dr. Ram Mohan (US), Dr Supriya (US), Dr. SreepriyaJayaraman (Canada), Dr. Akshay Jamadagni (UK), Dr. Mamatha (Australia), Dr. Rohith G (UK), Dr. Dhrutil Belur (US), are one among a few in a huge list of alumni who have an illustrious career abroad after graduating from DAPMRVDC. They along with many more of

their alumni have been a constant source of help and assistance to their ongoing students. DAPMRVDC has been organizing programs for students interaction with such alumni on a routine basis.

Adding more about the various milestones of DAPMRVDC and some of their future plans, Dr. Asha says "The institute was accredited with NAAC `A' grade in the year 2015 and is one of the most sought-after institutions in the state of Karnataka, and is among the first few to exhaust its seats during seat allocation rounds every year. We have organized 500+ conferences in the past five years and the faculty and students together have made more than 600 presentations in the international and national forums. Our faculty have published more than 600 scientific papers and over 50 books. The college name has been entered in the Asia Book of Records for conducting maximum number of free school oral health programs. The Institution has four satellite centers and conducts health awareness programmes regularly. In the last five years, 657 camps were conducted and 1,09,641 patients were treated, through participation of 3704 students". Going forward, we aim to become a leading centre for research and academic activities by adopting cutting edge technologies and implementing most advanced clinical practices in Dentistry and Dental Education.

Dr. Asha R Iyengar, Principal & Professor:
During her long career, she has mentored many postgraduate students & Ph. D Scholars. She has around 70 publications and contributed to text books in Oral Medicine and Radiology and has made many National and International Presentations. She was the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of the Indian Academic and Oral Medicine and Radiology. She was the Regional Director for the Asian Congress Maxillofacial Radiology, held at Seoul, South Korea in 2011 and was the member of the Asian Advisory Board for the International Congress of Maxillofacial Radiology, Hiroshima, Japan. Presently she is an Academic Council member of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka. She is also the Vice President of the Karnataka Branch of the Indian academic of Oral Medicine and Radiology.