Beyond the Book

ESTABLISHED IN 1926, Shri Ram College of Com­merce, or SRCC, is a constitu­ent college of the University of Delhi. The college is governed by the SRCC governing body headed by the chairman, a post currently held by Ajay S Sriram. The governing body has our il­lustrious alumni such as Rajat Sharma, Justice (Retd) AK Sikri as its members.

The college has nine departments— Commerce, Economics, Mathematics, Hindi, English, Political Science, Com­puter Science, Environmental Science, and Physical Education and Sports— each headed by a teacher-in-charge. At undergraduate level, the college offers BA and BCom courses, while there are three programmes, namely MA (Eco­nomics), MCom and a self-financed diploma in global business operations, at postgraduate level.

The college offers world-class learn­ing to its students, who are transformed into leaders of tomorrow by the progres­sive environs of the institution. The two primary goals of the college are holistic development of its students and mean­ingful contribution to the society, com­munity and nation at large. The faculty members are all respected academics and researchers, many of whom are also celebrated authors of textbooks and ref­erence books. The infrastructure of the college fuses its traditional halo with modern functionalities. The college is proud of its diverse alumni who have brought accolades to the institution in different fields.

The academic departments are ably supported by the administrative units of the college. The college also boasts a large library and hostels for boys and girls. The functioning of the college is taken care of by its staff council, inter­nal quality assurance cell, various com­mittees, and other constituent units. To ensure holistic development of our stu­dents, we also have over 50 student soci­eties that are guided by faculty advisors.

Over the course of its nonagenar­ian existence, the college has built a strong legacy and a brand recognisable the world over. As the college heads to its centenary year, it looks forward to greater heights of academic excellence and establishing its vision of "SRCC-A College of Global Choice".

The core strength of commerce ed­ucation is that it creates an all-rounder whose knowledge and skill sets are ho­listic and aptitude is boundless. There­fore, there are no limits to the scope, aspirations and career opportunities for a commerce graduate. If one looks at our college, we have eminent alumni who have achieved paramount excel­lence both in traditional fields such as accounting, auditing and finance, as well as in domains like artificial intel­ligence, law, politics and media. Our graduates also excel in government services and bureaucracy as well as en­trepreneurial endeavours. Commerce also provides abundance of opportuni­ties in the fields of teaching, academ­ics and research. Among our alumni are filmmakers, actors and sport per­sonalities. In addition to providing a foundational base to corporate careers through MBAs, commerce education also serves as a launchpad to a variety of careers such as chartered accountants, company secretary, certified financial analyst, and cost and management ac­countant, amongst others.

Education is a very dynamic area. Commerce especially is a predomi­nantly job-focussed discipline. Given the ever-changing nature of industry and environments, there is a constant need to update the curriculum and ensure a smooth blend of learning an­dragogy with managing students and employers' expectations. Being applica­tion-oriented, there are policymaking dimensions too. There are opportuni­ties to go beyond the curriculum and add value to the same by introducing skill enhancement courses. There are opportunities to expand laterally such as academia-academia interface, aca­demia-alumni interface and academia-industry interface for mutual benefits. For instance, SRCC today has a rich academia-industry interface through its training programmes with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Corpo­rate Law Service (ICLS), where faculty members from the college provide training to officers of RBI and proba­tionary officers of ICLS.

Similarly, there are immense oppor­tunities for research and development where higher education institutes can take proactive initiatives. SRCC has un­dertaken several research projects, like the one with Competition Commis­sion of India and another with Delhi School of Economics. Similarly the college is also undertaking projects re­lated to developing and disseminating knowledge, research and competencies on economic history and economic thoughts of India sanctioned by the government. Collaboration among higher education institute is key. Well-performing institutes can mentor others on how to further improve the quality of higher education.