Education From The Frontline

The year 2020 was a year that shook the world. Perhaps the worst-affected was the student community.  And academic institutions the most challenged. Maintaining academic calendars, delivering practical classes, scheduling internships and finally providing placements - the challenges were manifold.

Mr Satyam Roychowdhury, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Techno India Group and Chancellor of SNU puts it, simply, “The pandemic hurled a challenge at us. We stood firm and accepted the challenge.”

The strength today of the Techno India Group, the largest educational group in  Eastern India lies in its 100-million plus graduates now placed all over India and beyond.

The successful establishment of over 100 campuses in the last 35 years is a result of commitment to innovation and technology. Sister Nivedita University, built on the principles of Swami Vivekananda and of Sister Nivedita, is the youngest institution of the group. With a vision to encourage creativity, entrepreneurship and research, SNU’s mission is to inculcate a value-based transformative impact on the society.

The Learning Management System developed in-house was fully functional  during the pandemic and ensured that the online teaching-learning process was in place across all Group institutions. Teaching could shift completely online with   minimum  academic hours lost.

In the words of Vice Chancellor of SNU, Professor Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhayay, “It has been our constant endeavour at SNU to achieve academic excellence. The pandemic proved that our plans were aligned with the future. It was the team effort of all the students, parents, faculty and administrative staff who stood by us. We could easily see that concepts like Flipped Classrooms and Schools As A Service (SaaS) became more popular. Artificial Intelligence along with Augmented Reality make education far exciting and interesting and enable customized learning at a micro level. We are definitely looking to incorporate these concepts along with traditional classroom training at SNU”, he said.

Srijita Banerjee, a 3rd year student of Mass Communication and Journalism at SNU said, “The pandemic and months of lockdown did not make us  lose a day of academics, our regular classes and interactions with industry professionals over webinars kept us in sync with our curriculum.”

Swapnoj Banerjee of Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology said, “The  colleges under the group conducted online campus placement  drives and companies like Amazon, Deloitte, Mcafee, Intel, Lenovo  continued their association with record placement offers.”  

Mr Satyam Roychowdhury nurtures a vision  of a Bengal and of an India, which transcends success in the traditional sense and embraces the principle of  serving the community unconditionally. The University has always tried to  give shape  to his visions and invest in community outreach activities, keeping in mind  the need of the times. During the pandemic, Sister Nivedita University initiated the online psychological counselling to support students, parents and faculty members in need.

Under the guidance of Mr Roychowdhury, the Group has always stressed on social responsibility and year 2020 saw the Group contributing in various ways to the ongoing crisis. The School of Nursing of SNU is all set to address the huge gap of qualified and dedicated nurses and thereby   reduce the gap between need and availability of trained healthcare professionals.

After Cyclone Amphan wreaked its devastation, Team SNU leapt to contribute to relief operations in the ravaged villages of South Bengal especially the Sunderbans. Such initiatives, not only inculcate a sense of service but also help to develop well-rounded professionals with strong humanitarian values.

Aimed at bridging the industry-academia gap, Sister Nivedita University has developed  a unique model to integrate the emerging skill-based trainings. The University is committed to imparting quality learning opportunities, promoting enhancement and moulding the students into efficient professionals. With as beautiful  a campus  as SNU  and state-of-the-art teaching learning facilities, students experience a culture that encourages innovation through strong digital connectivity and industry exposure. SNU has established connections with reputed foreign universities to foster  faculty  exchange programs for inter-university cross functioning.

Integrating technology in education, to ignite interest and inspire innovation has become the creed of Techno India Group.  “Technology is the only way forward” the Chancellor, SNU says. Although it took most organizations and institutions a global pandemic to have this epiphany, this was what Techno India under Mr Satyam Roychowdhury had declared as their mission almost 35 years ago.

Having leapt over significant milestones, the University now aspires to become the best private University of the nation. This is just the beginning.

Sister Nivedita University (SNU) at New Town, Kolkata has been established through enactment of The Sister Nivedita University Act, 2017 (West Bengal XLIX of 2017). SNU, being unique of its own kind is built on the path of Sister Nivedita, blessed under the shadow of Swami Vivekananda. The University offers educational programs and research in a wide array of subjects, under disciplines like Engineering and Technology, Science, Medicine, Management, Law, Humanities, Language and Literature, Pharmacy, Architecture, Social Sciences, Education, Performing Arts, Sports, Media, Design, etc. Moreover, some unique courses will be introduced with the emphasis on skill development, entrepreneurship and women empowerment.