The Higher Education Review

With versatile and rich experience spanning over 45 years - in teaching, research, administration, marketing, and techno-entrepreneurship and an excellent interface with premier teaching and research institutes and diverse industries, Prof. Vinay Rale is serving as the Director of SSBS since 2014. He holds qualifications like Post Doctorals from Institute fur Mikrobiologie, Georg August Universitat, Goettingen, Germany and several other renowned institutions in Germany, and an extensive industrial experience in UK and India. He is currently on the Board of Directors of three companies involved in Microbiology and Dairy Sciences. He has earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Microbiology from University of Poona (now Savitribai Phule Pune University), Pune.

Founded by Padma Bhushan Prof. Dr. S.B. Mujumdar in the year 1971, "Symbiosis", which means ‘living together of two different organisms for mutual benefit', today, has evolved as one of the most trustworthy educational brand among the student community. Symbiosis in the present day is a family of 48 academic institutions imparting quality education to over 34,000 Indian and International students on campus. Comprehending the excellence that Symbiosis has been demonstrating, the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India conferred the 'Deemed to be University' status on Symbiosis in 2002 and in the recent past the status of Autonomy Category 1.

"Recently Symbiosis International (Deemed University) received the Most Promising University (West) award in the Global India Education Forum which was organized by the Discovery Education Media," says Prof. Vinay Rale, Director, Symbiosis School of Biological Sciences. Adding one more feather of glory in its hat, under the Faculty of Health and Biological Sciences (FoHBS) the University initiated the Symbiosis School of Biological Sciences (SSBS) in the year 2011. "Since the demand for Biotechnology is growing tremendously, Symbiosis wanted to

address the requirement by starting a school devoted to training, research, and development in the field of Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Nutrition & Dietetics, and Food & Beverages," shares Prof. Rale. Holding firmly the goal of carrying out Life Sciences Research of highest caliber, the institute is marching towards creating professionals in this field and imparts the best of training ably supported by highly qualified faculty.

"Nestled in the mesmerizing Symbiosis Knowledge Village, Pune, the SSBS encompasses finest facilities and state-of-art equipment for research in Biotechnology as well as Nutrition and Dietetics"

"We give paramount importance to research at our institute. Both students and faculty members are encouraged vividly to participate in cutting-edge research work. Our Ph.D. programme further quenches the thirst of those who aspire to perform research in this field," says Prof. Rale. The institute along with the doctoral programme runs two programmes, M.Sc. in Biotechnology and M.Sc. in Nutrition and Dietetics. The factor that attracts an optimum number of students annually to pursue their studies at SSBS is the impressive 1:10 student-faculty ratio, which provides each student the opportunity to get individual attention from their teachers. "We have a very good mix of young and experienced faculty members in our institute. This positively fosters both innovation and quality in the teaching-learning process," claims Prof. Rale. The faculty members at SSBS don the role of mentors to the students and render their guidance throughout the year.

Offering Best of Both Worlds:

Nestled in the mesmerizing Symbiosis Knowledge Village, Pune, the SSBS encompasses finest facilities and state-of-art equipment for research in Biotechnology as well as Nutrition and Dietetics. There is hostel provision and the students can avail the facilities such as Gymnasium, Swimming pool, Yoga, Zumba and many more at the Recreation and Wellness Centre. The campus is well connected to the main city centre by buses. "Understanding the necessity of interactive teaching and learning, the classrooms have been equipped with computers and projectors. Moreover, Library of the institute has all the textbooks required for the courses along with numerous reference books, research journals, and subscription to online databases such as Web of

Science and Scopus," points Prof. Rale.

Being a research-driven institute, the 4th semester is completely dissertation-driven. The students carry out project work under the guidance of either in house faculty members or in prestigious organizations like National Chemical Laboratory, National Centre for Cell Science, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to name a few. The institute also carries out industry research projects on regular basis where students get due chance to get involved and gain some real-time experiences. "Recently, we have completed projects of in collaboration with organizations like Tata Chemicals Ltd. and an Indonesian Multinational Company besides two ongoing industry projects” adds Prof. Rale. We maintain a good relationship with the private as well as nationalized institutes. Moreover, research work at SSBS is also funded by agencies of Government of India like Department of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research, and Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences.

Not only academically, we believe in grooming our students holistically from improving their communication skills to letting realize their respective passions in free time and making them ready to achieve success in their careers," opines Prof. Rale. From the very first day, the institute starts to let the students know regarding the career opportunities available in Biotechnology and in Nutrition and Dietetics and gives them a bird's eye view of their course curricula and the specific areas in which they may choose to excel.

"The training methodology that we adopt at SSBS involves a combination of lectures, assignments, case studies, critical analysis, presentations with special emphasis on laboratory practicals and hands-on training. Anyhow, the past students' success stories are the best testimony of our capabilities as one of a kind institute," shares Prof. Rale. Ushering the University's vision of promoting international understanding through quality education, the University is coming up with the launch of a 200+ bedded multispecialty full-fledged hospital at the beginning of the next year. SSBS will have multi-faceted interaction with this Symbiosis University Hospital & Research Centre (SUHRC).