Principal speak: We encourage tie-up with industries, says D N Sheth of Pune’s Sir Parshurambhau College

DN Sheth has been heading the college for many years and he opens up about the plans he has for the college.

What steps are being taken to enhance student skills?

Along with academics, we have sports, debate, culture and art circle, besides National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Corps (NCC) to develop the overall personality of students. We work towards developing proper skill sets in a student in accordance to his choice of profession. We have an eight acre playground along with a swimming pool. There are facilities for indoor games like shooting range, badminton and table tennis. All types of sporting activities are pursued by the students. Under NSS, we have adopted the Waghapur village near Saswad and have arranged various activities for the past three years.

Tell us about your college?

This college was founded on June 14, 1916 and was known as New Poona College. Initially it was in Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, Bajirao road. After ten years, it was shifted to the current campus and rechristened as Sir Parshurambau College. The college is spread over 32 acres of land. The college has an NAAC accreditation of CGPA 3.70.

What are your plans for the future?

We are looking at e-content development, exploring new collaborations at national and international levels, promoting inter disciplinary research and adding more vocational courses. We are also encouraging tie-ups with industries and establishing business incubator facilities. We are also looking at establishing a foreign language centre . We also plan to provide consultancy and services to industry and agriculture.

What are steps you are taking to upgrade your college?

We are strengthening our infrastructure, taking initiatives to have a clean and green and safe campus. I am proud to say that Central government has selected the campus for free Wi-Fi service. We give preference to virtual classrooms and Google classrooms, online interface.

What are you doing for students in terms of upgradation?

We have earmarked no vehicle days as a step towards saving the environment and maintain a eco-friendly campus. There are silence zones in the campus. This initiative has lead to increase in the number of birds. We have taken biodiversity, solar energy and energy audits and we have begun rain water harvesting that will make students aware of the importance of water and lead them to preserve it.