Life Skill Program for the Under Graduate Students

A GATEWAY TO A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

The whole world is clamoring for professionalism and excellence and educational institutions are vying with each other for academic excellence . The challenges the young generation face are many and varied. There is conflict in personal life, family life and social life. What they are equipped with university education seem inadequate. There is a wide gap between employability skills and academic skill.

University graduate without life coping skills are not employable even when employed they lack  the soft skills to achieve success in their profession and to balance work and life.

The visionaries of St. Philomena’s institution realized the need for a paradigm shift in educating the youth. The holistic approach to education is the need of the time. It is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identity , meaning and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world consists of all the life forms and to humanitarian values. This helps in achieving harmony between the inner self and the world around. This education is expected to result in reverence and responsibility. It is also refreshing. This is nothing new but a revisit to the philosophy of educationalists like Rudolf Steiner and Maria Montessori along with that of the founding fathers of St. Philomena’s College.

A paradigm shift in’ Excellence in education’ is attempted by introducing a foundation course in soft skills, mandatory for every graduate . It is an interactive program where thoughts of young people are elicited on various issues and life situations, encompassing every aspect of life.

Present Faculty

The ever evolving  and innovative syllabus contains topics like  :

a) Personal and academic skills- comprising of personal development, interpersonal skills, intra-personal skills, emotional intelligence skills, physical , mental and spiritual fitness, setting and achieving goals.

b) Employability skills- this includes forming right mind set ,work –life balance and leadership qualities

c) Managerial skill- this include respecting diversity –cultural , linguistic and religious . Time management, stress management, communication skills and presentation skill.

d) Social skills -include empowerment, women empowerment in Indian context ,social responsibility , value of life and respect for life .

With the life skill program ,the institution  intend to equip every graduate to achieve psychological freedom, good–judgement, timely and right decision making abilities , development of character ,reverence ,courage and right convictions. The strategies involved in developing the curriculum are , experience in educational profession and administration , listening to the students and sensing their aspirations, observing and monitoring their life; the challenges the young people face, the development in society and life situations prevailing today.

To execute the program effectively the team of teachers ,apart from imparting knowledge and information, each one  play the role of a mentor, a facilitator,a coordinator and a companion with life experience and exposure

With this program the institution has tried to achieve something unique in educating the youth. Along with the academic degree the students are competent enough to secure a job and excel in it.They are able to integrate into society and accept diversity, face challenges in life successfully and to be an achiever above all to be a good human being.

Department of Environmental Studies:

The Department of Environmental studies was set up in 2003 ,after the University Grants Commission made it mandatory that all undergraduates students must have an exposure to the problems associated with environment. Environmental Studies paper shall be taught during the first two years in any one of the semesters.

The vision and mission of the department are :

• Vision : The vision of the department is to see that every individual adopts behavior that reflect a commitment to a healthy, sustainable environment for future generations.
• Mission : The mission of the department is to inculcate environmental education which is essential to create a culture of sustainability.

Present Faculty

The teaching fraternity of the department has participated  in  the seminars/conference /workshops conducted in and off campus .

Subject Description : This subject  provides basic  knowledge and understanding of how our world works from an environmental perspective. The study revolves around basic principles of ecosystem function; biodiversity and its conservation; human population growth; water resources and management; water, air and soil pollution; climate change; energy resources, and sustainability.

• Apart from the lecture method of teaching using black board and chalk,
• Teaching is made more effective and learning more interesting with the use of ICT aids like LCD projector to give power point presentations.

The staff and students of the Department OF Environmental Studies in association with other departments and nature club are involved in the following activities :

• Swach Mysuru
• National /International conferences on climate
• Plastic free campus
• Rainwater harvesting
• Vermi composting
• Paper Recycling
• Planting of saplings etc

Recently the Department celebrated World Environment Day on 19^th June 2019 ,by planting about 80 saplings of various flowering plants at the sports ground of the campus.