The Higher Education Review

Education is every child's right, and constantly working to fulfil this notion is Sri Kaliswari College, Sivakasi. Located in the rural area, the students' population at Kaliswari College mainly hails from socially disadvantaged and economically weaker sections of the society. Most of them are first generation learners who can get entitled to dignified survival only through education, employment and entrepreneurship. So, the college determinedly aims at facilitating an integral, inclusive and humane development of the nation by offering quality higher education to rural students' community.

Sri Kaliswari Trust, comprising a team of magnificent philanthropists endowed with wisdom and foresight, embarked on launching an ideal College of Arts and Science in 2000 A.D. with a vision to impart value-based higher education to the student community and to mold them to be fit for the next millennium. Addressing this concern, the college has stated its vision as 'To impart quality higher education to produce highly talented youth capable of developing the nation'.

"At Sri Kaliswari College, we are focusing on the empowerment of socially and economically backward rural students by appointing qualified, skilled and experienced faculty members by adopting various teaching pedagogies to identify and develop the innate skills of the students. By means of conducting various curricular and co-curricular programmes, the students are exposed to real life situations which make them ready to face the same, in addition to securing high marks. The present day students are encountered with more number of personal as well as psychological problems. It leads to poor concentration on studies. So, the teachers of Sri Kaliswari College are acting as a counsellor to address the problems of the students and make them feel free and better," says A. P. Selvarajan, Secretary, Sri Kaliswari College, Sivakasi.

Ensuring Education for all with Quality Offerings
Sri Kaliswari College offers a broad range of courses on Literature (Tamil and English), Basic Science (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Biotechnology), Computational Science (Computer Application, Computer Science, Information Technology), Commerce and Management (Commerce, Commerce with Computer Application, Business Administration, Business Administration with Computer Application), Hospitality Science (Tourism and Hotel Administration).

All the courses are fulfilling the needs of the local students. Being an autonomous institution, the curriculum at the institute is designed to meet the requirements of the local industries and based on the learning ability of the students of this region. Sri Kaliswari College has adequate facilities for teaching and learning - Classrooms, Laboratories, Computer equipment.

"Sri Kaliswari College helps economically needy students benefited by Government/Non government scholarships and various Management Welfare Schemes"

Apart from the courses offered at the institute, Sri Kaliswari College has 84 spacious, well furnished class rooms with sufficient fans, lighting and drinking water facilities. Length and breadth of the classrooms are sufficient to have proper ventilation and natural airflow. LCD projector facilities are provided to classes on need to provide visual education. There are also fully equipped laboratories in the Departments of Biotechnology, Botany, Chemistry, Physics, Tourism and Hotel Administration Department, Computer Science Departments and English Language Laboratory. The institute has 601 computers which are fixed in 5 computer laboratories, 2 Smart Boards are fixed in two classrooms to run Smart Classes, Video Conferencing facility enables students to have video conferences with subject experts, 19 LCD projectors are used for academic and administrative purposes, 13 LCDs are given to Departments, 4 LCDs for Conference Hall, Meeting Hall and two Smart Class Rooms. There is an Electronic laboratory for Computer Science, Computer Applications and Information Technology students. "Since, the majority of our students are rural, first generation learners, lack of competence in English communication skills is their major challenge. So, we have Language Lab setup with 19 computers installed with Orell software, 21 CD drives with Server, DVD player, Speaker set with Headphones offers them practical sessions to render English learning process interactive, informal and interesting", adds A. P. Selvarajan.

Always Striving for the Best
Students admitted into Sri Kaliswari College are from heterogeneous backgrounds and special efforts are taken to assess students' different learning levels and adopt suitable teaching strategies. For Freshers, Orientation Programme and 10 days' Bridge Course are organized. Result Analysis of First Internal Test serves as a baseline document to identify slow learners and advanced learners. Class teachers and Tutors interact with slow learners and remedial coaching classes are arranged. Advanced learners are encouraged to take up online courses and earn more credits through Extra Credit Courses. Along with regular classroom lectures, student centric methods

as Peer Teaching, Team Teaching, Mind-Mapping, Brainstorm sessions and Model Making are strategically employed.

Through Field trips, Industrial visits, On-job Training and Internship students gain insights into Industrial practices and latest technologies. "We have ICT facilities (WiFi campus, 601 computers with internet connectivity of 10mbps, Smart Classrooms, Video Conferencing, e-content modules, LCD projectors) extensively used for teaching learning process. Our automated library has 28,333 volumes of books, 2060 E-Books, regular subscription to National/Internal Journals, Magazines, Newspapers and Institutional membership in DELNET, NLIST and NDL serves as a rich learning resource", mentions Selvarajan.

Sri Kaliswari College helps economically needy students benefited by Government/Non government scholarships and various Management Welfare Schemes. The management is sponsoring the students who excel in sports activities under the name of Sports Quota students' scheme. Selvarajan explains, "In the PG programme, Merit Scholarship is provided to the academically top scorers in their Under-graduation level to the tune of 25 percent of the total tuition fee for all the semesters. We are also assisting the students to get financial assistance from the local sponsoring agency like Lions Club, Rotary Club, Trade associations and more. The alumni association is also providing interest free loans to the economically backward students."

Sri Kaliswari College has industrial collaboration with more than 30 business organizations located in and around Sivakasi and Virudhunagar District where the students are permitted to take up their internship and the students were also placed. The college has also entered into collaboration with Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore for Knowledge Exchange Programme. Our students were placed incorporates including Accenture, Tech Mahindra, Apollo Hospitals, Infosys, Institute for Language Management, Vertex Computer Solution, IDBI Federal Insurance, Orchids Chemicals, Axis Bank, Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, GRT Hotels, Oberoi group of Hotels, Hyatt Regency, TCS, ITC Hotels, Indian Express, Life Insurance Corporation, HDFC Bank, and more.

Continuously striving 'To impart quality higher education to produce highly talented youth capable of developing the nation', Sri Kaliswari College aspires to ensure quality in all aspects of the activities, Provide value-based education to instil courage and confidence and Nurture the entrepreneurial skills of the rural youth in coming times.