Top Arts and Science Colleges of Chennai - 2
This second article in the series of three will aim to discuss the salient features of the next four top Arts and Science Colleges of Chennai. The colleges are the Stella Maris College for Women,The Ethiraj College for Women, the Vivekananda College for Men and the D.G. Vaishnav College, which is a co-education college.
Introduction
This second article will focus on what the next top four Arts and Science Colleges have to offer and is a continuation of the first article Top Three Arts and Science Colleges in Chennai. The most important features, along with some unique courses, are mentioned in some detail. Stella Maris College
This is a famous Autonomous college for women situated at a walkable distance from the prestigious Mount Road. The most famous alumni is Ms. Indira Nooyi, the global CEO of Pepsico, USA. The college offers the traditional courses, but particular mention needs to be made of three post-graduate courses. These courses are PG courses in International Studies, Social Work, and Visual Arts.
The department of Social Work, of Stella Maris Collegeoffers the Master's Degree in Social Work, with the specialization in Medical&Psychiatric Social Work, has produced some of the best counselors in this country. It has been nurtured to its eminent status by the Head of the Department, Ms. Radha Paul.
The college has a strict rule for attendance of 85% in each subject. There are a few girl students who tend to be put off by such a strict rule; however, they are all alumni now and when I interviewed a few of them, they were actually grateful to the college for that kind of discipline, as that had enabled them to have the right values in life later. They recalled with fond affection the kind of discussion and debate that is part and parcel of this college to this day. The college is noted for its slightly strict dress code. Limited hostel facilities are available. The college is extremely good for placements and has an impressive campus placement record. The students are made to do many projects in each course and mere cramming is never encouraged.
Contact Information:-
Address: - Cathedral Road, Poes Garden, Gopalapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600006
Phone:- 044-28111987
Email:- principal@stellamariscollege.edu.in
Website:- stellamariscollege.edu.inEhiraj College for Women
This autonomous college is situated at a posh area of the city, at Egmore. This is a direct competitor to Stella Maris College. Ethiraj College offers conventional courses. However, the college is known for its unique courses. For instance, it offers an MBA course which has become quite famous over the years. The college has certain add on self-sufficient courses that it offers in each department. For example, it offers Basic Skills and Counselling as a certificate course in its Psychology department. If offers the Visual Communication Skills course in the department of Visual Communication.
Ethiraj college is a little liberal in the dress code rules and talks about "modest dressing".The presence of so many clubs and the vast number of extra-curricular activities are reportedly the unique selling propositions of this college. This college encourages project work to be done by the students. The placement records are excellent and the college has a vibrant placement department that has good industry links. The college has a limited hostel facility.
Contact information:-
Address:- 70, Ethiraj Sala, Egmore, Chennai 600 008
Phone number:- 044-28279189/28240592
Email:- ethirajprincy@yahoo.com
Website:- www.ethirajcollege.edu.in Ramarksihna Mission Vivekananda College
This college is situated in the prestigious and posh area of Mylapore, Chennai. This college is managed by the Ramakrishna Mission. Alumni of this college include the likes of Dr. Y.V. Reddy, the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Mr.L. Sivaramakrishrnan, the former Test Cricketer of India, Mr. Gurumurthy, political activist and commentator and many others.
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College is fully integrated with the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the famous philosopher. This college offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Philosophy Plant Biology. This college is reported to have a high-quality mathematics department. Good knowledge of mathematics, it is reported, has enabled many students to crack the CAT examination to get a seat in the IIMs for the prestigious PGDM course. Every year, this college boasts a number of students who join the IIMs and the other branded B schools.
Vivekananda College is famous for its stress on discipline and it is reported to have a spiritual atmosphere in as much as students and faculty interact with each other in a climate of openness and quest for superior knowledge. The placement record of this college is excellent and the major corporates are regular visitors to pick up the best of students. The college has the day and evening college streams offering the different courses.
Contact information:-
Address:- 70-72, P.S. Sivasamy Salai, Kattukoil Garden, Mylapore Chennai 600004.
Phone:-044 2499 3057
Email:- mail@gkmvc.ac.in and principal@rkmvc.ac.in
Website:- rkmvc.ac.inD.G. Vaishnav College
This is an autonomous college in the Western suburb of Arumbakkam, Chennai. It is a co-education institution.
DG Vaishnav College offers a high-quality Master's Degree in Social Work(MSW), with a Human Resources Management specialization. This course is now reputed to be the best in Chennai and has quality placements. It has reached its current status to the efforts of its then Head of the Department, Ms. Vidhya Srinivasan, who was with the college for decades. She brought in a practical orientation and the internship with the companies was taken very seriously. The students get to organize a prestigious HR Conference, every year and this is one event that has the best of corporate brains sharing ideas.
This college offers a Master's Degree in Human Resources Management and the MBA course, both of which are now gaining traction and are said to quite good in terms of quality. The foreign study tour is part of the MBA course. The college also has B.Com (Honours) course in collaboration with the CMA course, and this enables global exposure and placements to the students. Hence, this course is popular at this college. Another popular course is the BA(Sociology) course. This college is a college of choice for any student who lives in Western Chennai and is gaining popularity every year. The placement records are improving every year as well.
Contact Information:-
Address:- - N0.833, Gokul bagh, E.V.R. Periyar Salai, Arunbakkam, Chennai 600106
Email:- p0rincipal@dgvaishnanvcollege.edu.in
Website:-www.dgvaishnavcollege.edu.in.What is common to all the four colleges
With every passing year, Chennai colleges are able to attract students from every part of India and these four colleges have their own share of such students. These colleges are always a cut above the rest, as they are autonomous colleges and can do any innovation in their teaching methods. They tend to ape the best three colleges discussed in the first article. However, every college has some unique selling proposition discussed above. The emphasis is on overall learning and not mere cramming. In the years to come, these colleges will offer even more competition to the best three and, that augurs well for the Chennai education scene, as the city has evolved into one of the most vibrant cosmopolitan cities in the past couple of decades. In fact, the next decade is even poised to be better, as the number of schools offering quality education is increasing by leaps and bounds with every single passing day. And the cream from these schools will form the core of undergraduate students in each of the four colleges discussed above.Concluson
The University of Madras believes in giving autonomy to colleges and the freedom to do many an innovation is the unique selling proposition of each of the above colleges, as much as it is for the first three top colleges referred to in this article. In the years to come, many more innovations in terms of new courses are likely to happen and these colleges will add value in their own unique ways. Chennai, the gateway of South India is poised for the growth of education in more meaningful ways in the years to come.