In an effort to make itself a role model in the field of higher education, Mar Athanasios College For Advanced Studies Thiruvalla (MACFAST), State’s first private self-financing college, is planning to make education free for all its students from the next academic year.
``Our idea is to elevate the college from the self-financing mode to a self-sustaining one, making the otherwise expensive advance studies absolutely free for all students here,’’ says the visionary college principal, Fr Abraham Mulamoottil.
Fr Mulamoottil told The Hindu that MACFAST has chalked out certain innovative programmes that include the proposed `Academy-Industry Interface’, `Corporate Badging’, `Corporate Scholar’, etc, as part of
the project.
He said the idea is to implement the projects in a phased manner. As a pilot project, students who are willing to work at various campus enterprises at MACFAST will be selected for the Master of Computer Applications course from next academic year, he added. The programme would be extended to various other post-graduate courses, including MBA, Food Science and Technology, Bio-technology, Bio-Informatics, etc, in the subsequent years, he added.
``Introducing the positive aspects of the Western idea of `earn while you learn’ in a different style in the typical Indian context is the very objective of the MACFAST programme,’’ says Fr Mulamoottil.
He said MACFAST was working for an innovative academy-industry interface aimed at filling the gaps in the academic curriculum with various industry requirements, focusing on the employability of the students.
The mode of studies would also be redesigned in such a manner in terms of the professional aptitude and calibre of the students and in consultation with various corporate bodies that have shown keen interest in the proposed programme.
MACFAST with accreditation from AICTE and affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University offers MCA and MBA courses as well as PG programmes in Biosciences.
Inorder to impart training for students and to take academy to industry, MACFAST is planning to launch a series of educational joint ventures in association with certain companies at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, Geojit BNP Paribas, Geojit Technologies and Geneseek Inc in the United States, he said.
`Corporate badging’
Fr Mulamoottil said MACFAST will also introduce a `corporate badging’ scheme which could identify talented students with the right kind of aptitude, interest and passion that suit well to the requirements of the industry.
