Conference on “Re-Imagining Internationalization” held at St Aloysius College (Autonomous)
Mangaluru: St Aloysius College (Autonomous) is a 142 year old reputed institution catering quality education to the youth in this part of the country. At present there are more than 6800 students with 314 staff members. The College has more than 20 post Graduate programs. It has number of accolades- to highlight few, it is reaccredited by NAAC with A grade with CGPA 3.62 out of 4. The College is ranked 95 under NIRF in 2021.It is recognised as the centre for research capacity building under UGC stride scheme and also under DBT builder scheme. College is conferred star status by the DBT and recognised by UGC as college with potential for excellence.
The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), St Aloysius College (Autonomous) Mangaluru in collaboration with AIACHE, organised a 2-day Conference on the theme: “Re-Imagining Internationalization”which was divided into 3 segments, Management Development Program (MDP), Faculty development Program (FDP) and Leadership development Program (LDP)
The objective of this conference was to get familiarized with the aims and vision of AIACHE and devise means to come together to collaborate and network for facing the challenges of Christian higher education in the present context, especially with the implementation of NEP-2020.
AIACHE, The All India Association for Christian Education is a professional Association of more than 500 Christian higher education institutions in India. The vision of AIACHE is to give Christian institutions a recognizable character and set high ideals of life and service which will inspire them continuously to strive to meet emerging needs and challenges.
The Principal of St Aloysius College Autonomous, Rev Dr Praveen Martis SJ has been elected as the President of the AIACHE, Karnataka Region in the General Body Meeting held in Kanyakumari from 27-29 December, 2021 and as one of the AIACHE Executive Board members (Karnataka Region) in the recently held 140th Meeting of the AIACHE Executive Board.
This Conference “Re-Imagining Internationalization” was a unique programme to explore common grounds for progressive educationists to discuss the future of NEP, to develop effective teacher training models, to strategize and build model plan to upskill and increase employability and provide internationalization in education and placements.
The conference was inaugurated on 21 January 2022 at 10.30 am in Sanidhya. The following were the dignitaries for the programme: Chief guest Ms Sameera Fernandes, Director of Ecosol Global, President Rev Dr Praveen Martis SJ, Vice president of AIACHE (Karnataka region) & vice principal of School of social work, Roshni Nilaya – Sr Dr Jenis Mary, Secretary of AIACHE – Mr Roshan Raj, General secretary of AIACHE-Rev Dr Xavier Vedham SJ and Spearhead media group mentor and advisor, CA Valerian D’Almaida were virtually present, Registrar and Controller of examinations St Aloysius College- Dr Alwyn D’Sa and the IQAC coordinator Mr Sonal Lobo.
Registrar and Controller of examinations St Aloysius college- Dr Alwyn D’Sa delivered the welcome address. General Secretary of AIACHE-Rev Dr Xavier Vedham SJ addressed the gathering and congratulated St Aloysius College for taking an initiative in organising this conference that would train the Principal’s, Faculties and the young minds to bring new innovations in higher education.
Chief Guest Ms Sameera Fernandes in her address highlighted the significance of internationalization of higher education through collaboration, research and entrepreneurship. President of the program, Rev Dr Praveen Martis SJ in his presidential address emphasized on the strategies to face the challenges in higher education and spoke on the importance of building networks among the colleges. Spearhead media group mentor and advisor, CA Valerian D’Almaida in his address congratulated his Almamater for this wonderful initiative in coming together as a team to build up the educational institutions in par with international standards.
The inaugural program concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr Sonal Lobo, the IQAC coordinator. The program was compered by Dr Rachael Natasha Mary, Assistant IQAC Coordinator.
Principals of 13 colleges across Karnataka and the directors of St Aloysius College (Autonomous) were present for the inaugural program.
The formal program was followed by an interactive session by Ms Sameera Fernandes. She in her talk explored different areas of institutional development such as quality enhancement, research culture, creative outlook and creating scholars for future. She emphasised the need for all educational institutions to adopt new vistas as education is moving from internationalization to universalization. At the end all the delegates were involved in a brain storming session to come up with their action plan to establish new standards in academic pursuit.
At the end principal Rev Dr Praveen Martis, SJ in his concluding remarks congratulated all the principals of different colleges for being a part of this conference and invited other college too to be a part of AIACHE so that more such programmes can be planned under the banner of AIACHE which will help Christian institutions reach greater heights.
The Faculty Development Program (FDP) under the theme “Re-Imagining Internationalization” was held on 21 January at 2.00 pm. Around 500 faculty members were present for the session. The principal of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Rev Dr Praveen Martis SJ addressed the participants and welcomed them. The resource person Ms Sameera Fernandes interacted with the faculty members on various aspects like Collaboration and Partnership, Student Mobility, Faculty Policies and Practices, Administrative Leadership and Articulated Institutional Commitment. She also discussed on strategies for faculty engagement and traits for a next generation teacher.
A leadership development program was held on 22nd January 2022 from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM. The resource person Ms Sameera Fernandez addressed around 300 students on Reimagining Internationalization. The audience were from various parts of the country and attended the webinar through an online ZOOM platform.
The resource person discussed regarding success and failures connecting them to the lives of eminent personalities in order to encourage the students to believe in themselves. She raised various questions regarding definition of success, where the students wish to see themselves in the next 10 years or what was their biggest encounter with failure till date. There was a good number of responses from the side of audience and the session winded up by 12:30.
The session was informative and interesting as the resource person was more indulged in having a healthy interaction with the students.