Christ Academy Institute for Advanced Studies (CAIAS) is developing into a pioneering name in the Indian higher education strata. The institute is a great academic fraternity formed as part of a precious CMI (Carmelites of Mary Immaculate) heritage and sustained by the ardent love of knowledge. The institute operates with the motto of "Light to Enlighten", which it realizes through its vision of creating and disseminating the light of knowledge to one and all. The institution derives inspiration from St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, a great educationist who brought about revolutionary changes that would provide equal access to education for everyone. CAIAS strives to provide a conducive and enabling environment that fosters self-discipline and self-motivation, thereby driving the pursuit of excellence in the community.
CAIAS's vision and mission is to handle certain primary concerns of education in India, like accessibility, quality, importance of intrinsic motivation and holistic development. It also relies on receiving periodic constructive feedback that can be used to effectively adapt to the needs of the students, teachers and the working world. Christ Academy Institute for Advanced Studies belongs to the family of educational institutions run by the members of Devamatha Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), with an experience of over a century and a half. This immense experience has been its biggest boon, and functions as its formidable strength. In addition, Christ Academy campus also houses schools, pre-university college and a law college - giving every member a sense of belonging to a large community. This sense of family/ fraternity serves as an essential stepping stone to individuals who may not have had such an opportunity - and testaments of several outgoing students have proven this time and again.
Striving for Perfection
As an institution of higher learning, CAIAS's aim is to equip its students to become intellectually competent, morally upright and socially responsible citizens. The academic courses on offer, pedagogical methods, peer learning environment, extra-curricular activities and campus infrastructure are focused on assuring their students the best of contemporary learning. The institute is affiliated to Bangalore University and currently houses 5 departments: Commerce, Management, Arts & Humanities, Science and Computer Sciences& Applications. The MBA program of the institute which is approved by AICTE moulds students into becoming future-ready managers ready to face a highly competitive and fast-changing business world. The post-graduate curriculum focuses on specializations, while the undergraduate programs comprise of single and triple major curricula. The institute firmly believes that learning is a transformative act, and prioritizes providing their students with quality resources to effectively achieve this transformation.
Providing an apt multi-cultural and professional environment with inclusive teaching methodology in a peer learning setting is an essential part of the pedagogy, which is designed in such a way that students can couple learning resources with academic infrastructure and customized skill centres to effectively hone themselves. The institution being located in a remote region also gives the ever-essential access to good quality education to hundreds of families who would be deprived of it due to unfair factors such as distance and financial obstacles which has always been priority for CAIAS.
"Christ academy institute for advanced studies has always aimed at inclusivity and accessibility in education"
Faculty members play an integral role in ensuring that the students acquire quality education and when asked about the quality of faculty and the career opportunities that the institute offers to the students, Dr.Fr. Babu Paul CMI, Principal, CAIAS, says, "The faculty members can be proudly lauded as the biggest assets of our institution. Over 70 faculty members from all over the country with multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary and multi-specialized leanings call CAIAS their home. They are accepted into the CAIAS fraternity after a thorough understanding of their academic and non-academic capabilities, standards of professionalism and innovative quality that they bring in. These factors can be witnessed on a continuous basis with the way the students are kept engaged with a variety of initiatives. The faculty members also undergo a periodic three-fold assessment from the students, management and themselves. This review feeds data for their performance appraisal on a regular basis. Also, a plethora of curricular and extra-curricular activities, and continuous academic assessments comprise an important part of the students" lives, enabling them to align their priorities and be aware of what is important to them. Our placement cells and counselling cells always extend their resources for the constant betterment of the students. Apart from all this, we also have a comprehensive network of business firms and research institutes that ensure essential exposure and foster market-ready competencies in our students".
At CAIAS, students are provided with a variety of training sessions with the goal of enhancing their employability, and to enable them to understand their capacities. Campus Drives, Corporate Interface Programs, Career Enhancement Programs, Corporate Communication Training, Employability Sessions, Grooming Workshops, upskilling workshops in various fields like programming, CA, CS and ACCA are some of the training modules disseminated by companies like ABC Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Adarsh Institute, Lakme, Oracle, TIME Institute, and Biocon to name a few. Students at the institute also have received campus placements from companies like Capricorn Safety Solutions, Ernest & Young, Infosys, TCS and Wipro. The previous batch of CAIAS has been recruited by prestigious organizations like Ernest & Young, Infosys, TCS and Wipro.
"Caias's aim is to equip its students to become intellectually competent, morally upright and socially responsible citizens"
Creating the Perfect Learning Environment
Alongside academics, extracurricular and co-curricular activities of the institution are unique and engaging, making their graduate study experience an extremely memorable one. As underrated, it may be, modern infrastructure maintained with utmost cleanliness is something that boosts anyone who is a part of it at the institute. The green campus with student-friendly zones, Turf court, Gymnasium, Auditorium with 1450 seats, Amphitheatre, Hostels, ATMs, libraries, playgrounds, and laboratories are a few examples that highlight CAIAS's pursuit for perfection. When students call such a place theirs, they understand the necessity to uphold such standards and be self-organized in other walks of their lives. Online classroom platforms were implemented by CAIAS at least one full semester before the pandemic began, which prevented students from having to face the trouble of getting acquainted with the virtual mode in addition to the stress of the lockdown.
The institute is structured in such a way that it promotes intra and inter departmental collaboration for academic and non-academic activities and every department has its own academic club/s in addition to multi-disciplinary clubs. They are tasked with conducting workshops, seminars, exposure camps, club activities, guest talks and competitions that give the students an insight towards various arenas they can delve into after their education. Every major event also comprises of the student body as its major taskforce, providing them with much needed hands-on experience regarding management, coordination, organization, advertising and delegation. All of these avenues of field-work enhance the self-esteem of the students and make them aware of the skills they never knew they needed.
The institution insists on incorporating as many extracurricular events as possible, to enable a well-rounded nurturing of students' capacities and upskill them in diverse fields. Instances of cultural events include Natakotsava " the intra college theatre fest, Rangotsava " the intracollege cultural fest and Sangamotsava " the ethnic day. Sangamotsava is observed with a special twist at CAIAS " with students of degree college, law college and PU college coming together to celebrate the different festivals of India " reminding everyone the importance of inclusivity, diversity and sensitivity. In the year 2019-2020, CAIAS yet again took the initiative of organizing its first-ever intercollegiate fest ELYSIAN. It was an overwhelmingly successful debut with over 50 colleges and 400 participants. Specialized extra-curricular clubs such as Literary Club, Photography Club, Environment Conservation Club, Social Service Club and the like function as branches of CAIAS that help develop the hobbies and passion of students, where initiative and independence are put to good use. During the lockdown, a special initiative called as "EC2: The ProAct Hub" was launched by the institution to keep the fire alive among the students, with an extremely positive reception.
In addition to the plethora of opportunities within campus, the students also receive assistance to be a part of events of other colleges, or engage with their personal talents and hone them. Students have taken part in several intercollegiate fests organized by institutions like Christ University, Kristu Jayanti College, IIPR, Jyoti Nivas College and the like, and have won prizes in designing, oratory, singing and literary events. Students of CAIAS are also encouraged to showcase their specific talents have achieved laurels in the fields of beat-boxing, classical dancing and karate. The football team of CAIAS is also among the brightest in Bangalore University, having won the football tournament in 2019-2020.
Adding about the future plans of the institute, Dr. Fr. Babu Paul CMI, says, "Christ Academy Institute for Advanced Studies has always aimed at inclusivity and accessibility in education. The recent past and present have demonstrated that the need to work towards this is more important now than ever and the institution is currently working on how to expand its services. CAIAS strives to fulfill its mission with its next stage of development through new academic programs providing educational opportunities to all. With 2 batches having graduated from CAIAS, we reach the next milestone of duties to perform. Strengthening the future of the students and maintaining a continuous correspondence with the alumni is an essential goal. A more conscious delegation of organizational responsibilities in the hands of students would also enhance their capabilities and make them feel more valued, thereby showcasing the growth of CAIAS as a single thriving organism as well. Initiatives are also under way to develop and curate multi-disciplinary research centres that would be open to a wider range of knowledge seekers'.
Dr. Fr. Babu Paul CMI, Principal
Apart from being the Principal of CAIAS, Dr. Fr. Babu Paul CMI is also the Managing Trustee of Christ Academy Group. He has been a rank holder throughout his academic life and apart from his Ph.D. Mahatma Gandhi University in English Literature, he is also a M.A, B.Th., and B. Ed holder, he has completed his M.A., from Seton Hall University, U.S.A. Dr. Fr. Babu Paul CMI is also a Research Guide under Calicut University, Research Reviewer of International Academic Forum, Japan & Salamanca University, Spain as well as a Peer Team Member of National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC).
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