Cover Story | Best Colleges 2023: Commerce: Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University
Beyond the Book
There is more to learning than curriculum
Simrit Kaur
Simrit Kaur
21 Jul, 2023
Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi (Photo: Raul Irani)
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.
About The Author
Simrit Kaur is Principal, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi
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