The Higher Education Review

In the late 70s, with the innovative, progressive and dynamic leadership under the visionary of B.V. Rathnaiah Setty, Vasavi Educational Trust (VET) was incepted in the residential area located in the south of Bangalore conurbation, Jayprakash Nagar (popularly known as JP Nagar) to enrich the cultural heritage of students from all walks of life through quality education. The activities of VET Institution began by starting VET nursery primary school at Visveshwarapuram with just 8 students. After almost a decade, VET established one of its units VET First Grade College (VET FGC) in 1996. Today, the trust has completed more than three decades of the glorious educational journey by maintaining high quality in academic pursuits, state-of-the-art laboratories that are well equipped with the latest technology for learning. The college offers B.Com, B.Sc. FAD, BCA, BBA, M.Com, PG Diploma in Business Administration and a PG Diploma in E-commerce to 670 students who are taught by 31 faculty members.

Learning outside the Classroom
While most of the colleges are only famous for its scrupulous classroom pedagogy, VET FGC is widely known for its ingenious curriculum that includes many extra and co-curricular activities. Keeping aside the regular curriculum, let's talk about the co-curricular activities of VET FGC. For the holistic development of the students, we have active NSS wing, Rotaract club, In-house Forums and other clubs like Vanijya Dhara Commerce Forum, Faccio Fashion Show for Budding Designers, Vanijya Milana and literary club to develop a concrete, conceptual structure of critical thinking in the students. In addition, we have registered alumni association, Student welfare and Alumni

association "for the students and by the students" says Dr. R Parvathi, Principal & Academic Director, VET FGC.

The extra-curricular activities of VET FGC are not limited to the personal development of the students as the college conducts other social events and creative enhancement programs. Dr. Parvathi says, "We are proud to declare that we have conducted many state and national level seminars, social rallies on different issues, blood donation and health camps for the extensive growth of the students. 'Akraya Samanthrana' is one of the seminars where PG students participate to gain insights on the industry. Apart from this, we have our own e-newsletters like Wrapup, Comptech, Faccio and annual magazine 'Dhrushti' and wall magazine under our in-house publication 'Prakashanam'.

"The extra-curricular activities of VET FGC are not limited to the personal development of the students as the college conducts other social events and creative enhancement programs"

Learning from the World Class Faculties
Dr. R. Parvathi also described the reason for the success of the students in the academic arena. She said that the hard work that the faculty members put to make the students achieve academic excellence is comparable to none. The faculty members are selected with an emphasis on aptitude, experience, and excellence in their fields and they are trained in advance teaching techniques in regular participation in teaching, symposia and workshops. There is an academic performance indicator at VET FGC that alerts the faculties to update themselves according to the present day trends in the education sphere.

The institute has successfully held many workshops, seminars and several conferences, where the faculty members presented numerous research papers that have been published in the UGC notified journals & other recognized journals.

Dr. R. Parvathi, explains the short term courses conducted at VET FGC that "We have seven regular short term courses conducted for

the students that are usually sponsored by the management. We have 13 committees under IQAC looking into various development parameters of the institute and students, 13 committees are Internal Quality Assurance Cell, Examination and Equipment Cell, Health and Planning committee, Parent's Relations Cell, Alumni Association, Equal Opportunity Cell, Anti-ragging and Sexual Harassment, Counseling/Redressal/Women Grievance Cell." The committees are headed by their respective chairperson, Head of the committee and the members of the committee, some include the student as representatives to voice students' issues and grievances.

Training and Placement Opportunities
Every year, VET FGC provides its students of B.Sc. FAD, BCA, BBA, and M.Com with internship and project opportunities to give practical exposure and working knowledge of fashion industries, banking, insurance, mutual fund companies, FMCG companies, etc, because of the prior industry experience, the students at VET FGC are well placed in their professional careers. The alumni of VET FGC are serving in some of the major industries like Global Talent Track, Hinduja Global Services, Justdial, Infosys BPO, Grassroots as process associates, Axis securities, ICICI, Accenture, Shahi exports, Gokuldas, Arvind Mills, K Mohan, Himatsingka, RSJ inspection committee, Strands Private Limited, Dell, Career Net Technologies, Phoenix Human Capital, Oracle, Data Lyzer International, Topper.com, Thomson Reuters, and Concentrix Private limited. The college is proud to declare that the students have brought great laurels in every sphere of education.

Adding more PG programs, getting an autonomous status and becoming a deemed university with Science, Arts, Commerce and Management course in UG and PG skilled based degree are the upcoming goals of VET FGC. With exploding creativity and innovation in multiple perspectives, intellectuality, morality, and spirituality, VET FGC is committed to imbibe excellence in every aspect of teaching and learning.