The Higher Education Review

The history of liberal arts education dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the basic concepts of this approach of higher education was set by some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of that time. Forgotten for some time, liberal arts education is making its revival in India and the future is looking better than ever before. Leading the front of liberal arts education revival in India is Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts and Science (KCLAS) which is the subsidiary institute of the reputed and globally recognized Sakthi Group of companies that was founded by the eminent businessman, educationist, and notable philanthropist N Mahalingam. The higher education institute started their operations in 2018 and within a year of their operations they have been able to make notable achievements in the Indian liberal arts education space and through their unique educational philosophy, KCLAS has been able to create pan India awareness about the importance and opportunities of liberal arts education in today's world.

KCLAS operates with the vision of becoming a progressive research-focused institution that instills passion for life-long learning and mould the young generation to positively impact the world. Adhering to their core values of Sincere, Respectful, Progressive, and Passionate the college is creating the perfect marriage between technical knowledge and liberal arts education. The institution has been focusing all their efforts towards their achievement of the vision and at the same time making everyone aware and understand the greatness and uniqueness of liberal arts education.

Moving at a Rapid Pace
KCLAS despises the idea of sitting back and watching the world goes by hoping that everything will go according to plan, rather the institute believes in taking the initiative and facing the challenges head-on. This same attitude is instilled by the college onto their students making them ready to face the real world and equipping them with the right amount of skills needed to thrive and create

positive changes in the modern world. With many industries finding it hard to get skilled workforce who are not afraid to face the challenges, KCLAS focuses on providing just that and through their courses and training the institute is aiming at the holistic development of its students. "The current market requirements demands of leaders who don't crumble under pressure and who have knowledge and expertise on multiple fields and in our college we have designed and developed all our courses in both the UG and PG courses keeping this in mind. We have BA literature, and political science, BBA, Bcom, BsC visual communication, mathematics, and psychology in our UG segment and our PG program is in Masters of social work. Other than this we have a PG diploma course in visual effects and diploma courses in analytics, design thinking, journalism, and Bharatanatyam and apart from this we also have a certification course on campus sustainability", avers Dr. Vijila, Principal, KCLAS.

"KCLAS operates with the vision of becoming a progressive research-focused institution that instills passion for life-long learning amongst students"

By instilling the spirit of liberal arts into their courses, the institute is planning to nurture and develop the best of minds to solve the challenges of the world and with their unique approaches and teaching pedagogies, KCLAS is creating students that will be contributing for both the society and the industry. Standing tall and proud on their 5 pillars of Legacy, Leadership, Learning, Location, and Forward-looking approach the higher education institute has made their mark on the Indian liberal arts education space. KCLAS is a strong advocate of interdisciplinary learning and the institute offers a wide variety of opportunities for their students to break their boundaries and gain knowledge on the subjects outside their curriculum. The college has been conducting various seminars, workshops, projects and various other researches to make sure that the students' knowledge is not just limited their subjects. The institute has even made it mandatory that their students' do interdisciplinary online courses so that the students get a deeper understanding of what is going on around the world.

A Unique Holistic Developmental Platform
KCLAS lies across 150 acres of green campus and they have state of the art classrooms,

discussion rooms, conference hall, auditoriums, and 3 modernized libraries. For their students holistic development the institute has got various clubs, and sports ground that spreads across 23 acres. One unique club that the institute has is the Class Career Center that acts both as a future guideline provider and gateway for their students. The center classifies the students into different categories according to their future aspirations and for students who wishes to continue with higher education, the center will offer guidelines regarding the best courses and colleges both inside and outside India. For students who are planning to start looking for jobs, the center will give them a detailed walkthrough about their opportunities and offer training for them. To take care of the students who has an eye for business and entrepreneurship the center will help them to develop their ideas and advise them on the market conditions and for students who are actively involved in family businesses the center will talk with their parents and will even allow the students to take certain percentage of extra leaves so that the students can cater to their businesses.

KCLAS believes that education shouldn't be denied to anyone and they offer various scholarships including a unique one called scholarship for equal education and development nicknamed SEED. This scholarship will provide complete support for the selected number of students during their 3 year graduation program and the students will be selected based on their aspirations and their alignment with institutes' vision. Looking at the future, KCLAS has planned many innovative projects to merge technology and liberal arts education to meet the industry requirements and ultimately the aim of the institute is to impact the world and in the coming years they are planning to develop into the most sought after higher education institution for all stakeholders.

Dr. Vijila, Principal
She is a distinguished academician and an able administrator and with her decades of teaching expertise she brings a blend of scholarship, professionalism, administrative competence, and integrity.