Top arts and science colleges of Chennai-3
This is the third and final article in the series of three articles on the ten best arts and science colleges of Chennai. In this article, we will discuss the salient features of three more autonomous arts and science colleges -- the Queen Mary's College, Women's Christian College, and the Guru Nanak College.
Introduction
The earlier two articles talked about the seven best arts and science colleges of Chennai. The two articles top three arts and science colleges in Chennai and top arts and science colleges in Chennai -2 spoke about how the seven are aiming to be among the best in the country in terms of quality and performance. In this article, we will focus on the last three of the ten arts and science colleges of Chennai, in terms of their specialties and what they have on offer. The three colleges to be discussed in this article are the Queen Mary's College, the Women's Christian College, and the Guru Nanak College. Queen Mary's College
This is one of the oldest colleges of Chennai, exclusively for women. It is a Government college, and it is administered by the Directorate of Collegiate Education, Higher Education Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. Its campus at the Madras University campus in Chennai is right in the heart of the city and is well connected with thousands of buses. The college is famous for its reasonable fees and traditional courses. For example, the college offers a BA(Telugu) and BA (Sanskrit) courses. Similarly, it offers the under-graduate, post-graduate and doctorate courses in Sociology.
The Queen Mary's College college offers the B.Sc(Geography) course and this is one of the few colleges to offer this course. Similarly, the M.Sc( Geography, Tourism Administration) course is a very unique course with job potential in the tourism industry. The college was granted the autonomous status, way back in 1987.
Contact information:
Queen Mary's College ( Autonomous),
The University of Madras Campus
Chepauk
Chennai 60004
Phone:- 044-28444995
044-28445910
Email:- queenmary'scollege.edu.in
Website:- www.queenmaryscollege.edu.in
The alumni of the college are very proud about the achievements of the college and since it is a Government of Tamil Nadu college, with a good number of scholarships for the backward sections of the society, this college is preferred by thousands of students from the North Chennai, as the distance is very less. In fact, the students who spoke to me expressed their gratitude to the teachers of the college for their efforts at fostering an atmosphere of learning and constructive thinking in all departments.Women's Christian College
This is another good college for women, that is making big strides in the teaching standards in the past few years. For instance, it offers the M.Sc( Psychology) course, with a specialization in Organizational Behavior and Counseling Psychology. It also offers the MA(HRM) course and of late, this course is gaining traction as a good alternative to the MSW course with a specialization in HR, offered by many other colleges. The college also offers a doctorate in psychology.
Being centrally located at College Road, just a walkable distance from the Egmore Railway Station, the college has a distinct advantage for its strategic location. It also has a very green campus. It is now offering tough competition to the other colleges for the traditional courses. The placement record is now said to be quite good and is being recognized by the industry. The B.Sc(Biotechnology) course is also said to be quite famous among students. The alumni of the college were unanimous in appreciating the teaching methods of the college, which involved a good number of group discussions, project work, role plays, and so on, in all courses. The students were proud to have been associated with the college and talked so proudly about the green campus, right in the heart of Chennai, in a posh locality. The college has limited hostel accommodation as well. Many students of this college had gone on to do the PGDM from the Great Lakes Institute of Management, and the ones I spoke to, were quite appreciative of the ecosystem that fosters creativity and divergent thinking.
Another special course of Women's Christian College is the M.Sc(Integrated Course) in Computer Science, which is a five-year course. The college counts among its famous alumni, one of India's topmost Industrialists, Ms. Mallika Srinivasan, who is the Chairman&Managing Director of TAFE, a leading tractor manufacturing company of Chennai.
Contact Information:
Women Christian College (Autonomous)
3351, College Road
Chennai 600 006
Phone numbers:- 044- 28275925
044- 28231676
Email:-info@wcc.edu.in
Website:- wcc.edu.inGuru Nanak College
Tucked away in the Southern suburb of Velacheri, a highly developed locality of Chennai is this prestigious college, well known for its unique courses. It is highly patronized by students from areas like Guindy, Perumgudi, Velacheri, Tambaram, and Pallavaram, as it is well connected by buses to these places. This college is also an autonomous college and has several departments.
For example, Guru Nanak College offers the MSW and MBA courses. The latter course is now being recognized as one of the best MBA colleges of the University of Madras. The college offers the BA(Corporate Secretaryship) course and according to students now studying this course, it is an extremely useful course that enables them to clear the Company Secretary course later. The BA(Defense Studies) and the MA(Defence Studies) courses are also popular in this college.
In the second shift, a particular mention is being made by students of the two good courses. These are the B.Com courses in Accounting and Finance and Information Systems Management, as these courses are good enough for the students to get jobs in the local engineering companies in the accounts departments and in the IT companies and then do the ICWA and the MCA courses through distance education. It was obvious that the college has been catering to the lower-middle-class students, as I could gather information from at least ten students of this economic class. It was such students who were appreciative of what the college could offer in terms of their job orientation. In as much as such information was directly obtained from the students, and the reputation of the college is also growing day after day, this aspect of job-orientation to those who need jobs immediately after graduation augurs well for the educational scenario in this part of Chennai city.
Contact Information:
Guru Nanak Colege (Autonomous)
Guru Nanak Salai
Velacheri 600 042
Chennai 600 042
Phone numbers;- 044-2245 1746
044-2244 4621
Email:- principal@gurunanakcollege.edu.in
Website:- www.gurunanakcollege.edu.in What is common to all the three colleges
The teaching methods are quite the same. The colleges are all following the footsteps of the leaders, discussed in the previous two articles. Since all three are well known branded colleges, it is good that they are offering a unique blend of courses that go on to make a good mix of students in each of the campuses. All three colleges have their own methods of teaching and the information gathered does point out to the absence of the mere cramming methods followed by a vast majority of arts and science colleges in other parts of the country.Conclusion
This last article in the series of three, sought to discuss some salient features of the last three of the ten best arts and science colleges in Chennai. These colleges are all branded colleges and are colleges of choice of thousands of students. There is fresh competition from the new colleges as well. When compared to most other metro cities, the number of autonomous colleges is fairly large in Chennai, and since the colleges can innovate in terms of teaching methods, the standards are bound to improve with every single passing day.