Research @ SH

The college has a vigorous research culture with six of its departments (Economics, Commerce, Botany, Chemistry, Physics, Zoology) being recognized research centres facilitating research leading to the award of Ph. D. by the MG University, Kottayam. As many as 32 Ph. D degrees have been awarded through these departments in the last five years. In addition, over 400 research articles have been published in national and international research journals by its research departments. Currently, 47 scholars are engaged in research in the college.

Areas of Resrarch

Sacred Heart College is committed to protection and promotion of life on the planet. It believes in ‘go-green and grow green’. As a matter of practice, it shall:

  • Seek to spread and deepen awareness on environment issues and an environment friendly life-style among the academic community and neighbourhood community
  • Pay special attention to minimizing waste, with ‘zero waste’ as the ideal, managing it properly with advance planning of this aspect of our activities/programmes/celebrations, and avoiding/minimizing the use of disposables and flex banners
  • Introduce recycling at the student level through entrepreneurship development cell, and at the college level, by establishing a paper recycling unit in due course
  • Tap renewable energy resources and introduce water recycling by 2019
  • Protect and promote diversity, especially of indigenous and coastal flora and fauna and their documentation
  • Promote organic vegetable and food production on and off-campus

Guides

Sacred Heart College holds the ideals of Higher Education in India, especially its stress on equity and access high. It is determined to cater to the needs of the sections of our society who face challenges on account of physical, social or economic factors. For this, it will strictly adhere to the norms of reservation laid down by the state for such sections.

In addition, the Admission Committee of the Management sets apart 20% of the privileged Management Quota seats to take care of deserving students from financially or socially challenged groups. If there are applicants from Dalit Christian groups, the special effort would be made to accommodate them through MQ under this quota, if they are not able to secure admission otherwise. All this, on condition of fulfilling the eligibility criteria stipulated for MQ from time to time.

If any student getting admitted in merit finds it difficult to continue studies on account of financial constraints, the Management would make all efforts to take care of that aspect so that s/he is able to complete the programme s/he has joined in.

Any student of the college is free to apply for assistance to cover tuition fee, transportation, books or meals. A committee scrutinizes the applications and depending on the available resources, help is provided to the applicants. A detachable form for the same is available in the college hand book.

The college has instituted an Equal Opportunity Cell, with the support of UGC for promoting the development of students who face such challenges.

Gender Policy

Sacred Heart College is a centre of Higher Education, open to all. Though it began as a Men’s College, its recent past shows that majority of its student population is women.

It envisions a similar openness in the matter of staff appointment as well, roping in more women in the teaching and non-teaching categories.

It promotes gender equality by focusing on Women’s Development through the erstwhile statutory Women’s Cell, functioning in the college as a women’s forum called SWASTI (Sacred Heart Women’s Association for Service, Truth and Integration). It envisages periodic training and exposure programmes for women’s empowerment and gender justice.

The management is committed to ensure that the mandatory Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell at work place (Supreme Court & UGC guidelines) is duly constituted and functioning in the college.

In all this, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, at the same time empowered and empowering, shall be the model and inspiration (Ref. Lk. 1: 46-55; Jn 2: 1-5; Jn 19:25-27; Acts 1:14).

Holistic Education

At S.H., tutorials are those interactive sessions intended to impart value education to the students. The sessions are to be planned with pre-drafted materials by the tutorial committee. Value education classes go in tandem with the tutorial sessions.

The students are to be engaged either as a single class unit, or wherever possible, as a group of 30 to 35, on a relatively permanent basis, and by one teacher (for a period of one year).

The lessons are to be prepared in advance, revised periodically, and they should be so devised to extend over a period of three years. Teachers concerned have to familiarize the lesson, so that more or less same messages reach the entire group.

All lessons should lead to practical implications for life, and wherever possible to be concluded with personal or collective resolutions, and a prayer. On an average, 2 hours a month should be devoted to tutorial sessions. Besides tutorials, the renewal programmes, personality development sessions, observances of socially significant days, thought for the week, life-orientation programme etc. should also serve as platform for value education.The value orientation imparted through the regular classroom teaching.

One of the core values to be imparted is that of ‘cleanliness as next to godliness’. This is to be ensured by every teacher every time he/she engages a class, that the class room is litter-free. And whenever, a programme is organized, there is a plan for minimizing waste (zero waste) and managing it.

HRD @ SHC

Human Resources Development at SHC is looked at from four angles

Students

Teaching Staff

Administrative Staff

Community

Primarily, the college is meant for developing human resources for the society through its core functions of teaching-learning, research and extension, with students as the primary focus.

The HRD process starts from the day of admission, through the personal interview encouraging students to think about their future and career, through the induction programmes, initiation ceremony, orientation sessions etc. Later on, with the insistence on their being part of at least one club or fora for a holistic and integrated development, the students are steered to fine-tune their skills. As a policy, students are encouraged to join in three varieties of clubs or fora: a) socially-oriented clubs/fora, b) career-oriented ones and c) talent clubs. The Career Guidance cell and Placement cell function together to orient students towards their careers and provides periodical training and orientation regarding soft skills and other related requirements. A spiritual affairs committee looks into the spiritual grooming of the students, providing them with insights on the occasion of various religious feasts and providing an annual occasion for spiritual animation. A life-orientation programme is offered annually for the final year students. Mentoring is the core programme by which a student’s resources are identified and encouraged. It is coupled with the programme of value education through an interactive session planned and reviewed every month.

The students are also encouraged and supported to take part in various cultural and art competitions for which there are separate guidelines. It is prescribed that during the course of their study, every student is to be encouraged to take part in at least one national/international academic programme and be part of organising one such programme.