CHRIST (Deemed to be University) is a private deemed to be university in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Founded in 1969 as an autonomous college, on 22 July 2008 it was declared as an institution deemed to be university under section 3 of UGC Act 1956 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India. The University is under the management of the priests of the Catholic religious order, Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). The University has over 18,000 students and more than 800 faculty members. In 2016, the University was accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council with A Grade. In 2017 India Today-Nielsen survey, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) is ranked among the top private universities in India. The university offers nationally and internationally recognised undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes in academic disciplines in Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences, Law, Engineering, Business Administration, Commerce, and Management. It offers professional courses in fields including Business Management, Computer Application, Hotel Management, Mass Communication, Social Work, Engineering and Tourism. It has a foreign student community of about 700 from 58 nationalities.
History
CHRIST UNIVERSITY - PROMO 2016 -
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) was born out of the educational vision of St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, an educationalist and social reformer of the nineteenth century in South India. His vision was of bringing education and knowledge to the weakest sections of the society. He initiated school education for the deprived and marginalised classes in the Southern part of the country. He founded the first indigenous Catholic congregation Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), in 1831 which administers CHRIST (Deemed to be University). Established in 1969 as Christ College, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India conferred Autonomy to the Christ College in 2004 and identified it as an institution with Potential for Excellence in 2006. In 2008 under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India, declared the institution a Deemed to be University, in the name and style of CHRIST (Deemed to be University). One of the first institutions in India to be accredited in 1998 by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and subsequently in 2004 and 2016, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) has the top Grade 'A' on 4-point scale.
The multi-disciplinary University which focuses on teaching, research and service, offers Bachelors to Doctoral programmes in Humanities, Social Sciences, Commerce, Management, Engineering, Education and Law to over 18000 students. The campus i often proclaimed as a living example for harmonious multiculturalism with students from all the states of the country and from around 72 foreign countries. CHRIST (Deemed to be University) publishes six peer-reviewed journals and has published more than 300 books in Kannada, English and Malayalam.
Campus
The University campus was awarded 'Best Institutional Buildings and Garden' award by the Bangalore Urban Arts Commission for three consecutive years between 2000â€"2002. It also won the 'Best Institutional Garden' instituted by the Mysore Horticulture Society for twenty four consecutive years including 2012. The campus is a zero waste campus and recycles its wet waste and used paper. The campus is cashless with students being provided with smart cards which serve as identity cards and debit cards. The card is issued by the South Indian Bank The university main campus is spread over 25 acres (10 ha) and is part of the 100-acre (40 ha) Dharmaram College Campus in the central part of Bangalore city. The campus is located on the extension of Hosur Road (NH 7) opposite the Bangalore Dairy Flyover.The city campus is placed close to residential localities such as BTM Layout, one of the most popular residential and commercial areas in Bangalore, Koramangala, another large neighborhood and Jayanagar, one of the largest residential neighborhoods in Bangalore. In 2009, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) opened an eco-friendly campus spread over 75 acres at Kengeri on the Bangalore-Mysore highway SH 17 which houses the Faculty of Engineering, PU Residential college, the Institute of Management which offers MBA programmes as well as College of Architecture Which was started officially from 2017. .
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) also has a campus located in Hulimavu on Bannerghatta Road, inaugurated in May 2016. IIM, Bangalore, The Royal Meenakshi Mall and the Bannerghatta National Park are located nearby. A boy's hostel, an auditorium than seats 1500, a mini auditorium that seats 200 and 4 eateries are located on campus.
The campus offers undergraduate honours and triple major degree programmes in Economics, Psychology, English, Journalism, Business Administration, Political Science, Media Studies and a bachelors and masters programme in tourism and travel management.
Architecture
The Main campus consists of six blocks:
- Block 1 houses first year B.A, B.Sc students. It was the main building of Christ College before it became a university. This block is unique for its architectural style. It is made from the combination of bricks and stones and is a typical example for the architectural design and style that was popular in Bangalore region during the 1960s. The ground floor houses the offices of Controller of Exams (COE), Office of the Humanities and Social Science Dean, Foreign Affairs Office, Psychology, Chemistry, Botany, Biotechnology and Zoology labs. The teachers club and the departmental offices of History, Political Science, Life Sciences and Psychology are also located here.
- Block 2 houses B.Com and certain batches of B.Sc. and B.A. This block contains majority of the BCom classes and courses like CEP, JPEng and EMS. It also has a mini assembly hall and conference room on the third floor. This block is known for the beautiful lawn and the artistic structure displayed in the middle. This block accommodates the departmental offices of media studies, Physics and Mathematics.
- Block 3 accommodates professional students. This block accommodates BCA course and the office of Economics and Commerce departments.
- Central block consists of postgraduate classes, Law faculty and the main offices of the university, namely Vice Chancellor's office, University Office, Office of Admissions and IPM. It lodges the Knowledge Center, which consists of 1,80,000 books and more than 400 journals and publications from across the world.
- Block 4 is a newly constructed building which accommodates the Innovation Center, Centre for Educational Sustainability and Development and the Department of Professional Studies and courses like B.Com Professional, B.Com International Finance, B.Com F&A, BBA F&A, BBA T&T, BHM, B.Com Honors etc. This block also accommodates the Kuriakose Elias Chavara Mini Auditorium which can accommodate around 600 people together.
- Audi block consists of Christ Junior College and Christ Main Auditorium, which can together accommodate 1,900 people.
Organization and administration
The university has around 18,000 students from all over India and the world, and around 800+ faculty members. The University is managed by the CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Trust, which in turn is organized and funded by the CMI congregation. The Chancellor of the university will be always the rector of the Dharmaram Pontifical Seminary. Thus, by assuming the rectors seat, he also assumes the position of the Chancellor as well. Since the position is more of titular in nature, he usually doesn't interfere in the day-to-day activities of the university. Under him comes the Vice Chancellor. He is the one who takes all the decisions which can affect the day to day administrative matters of the university. The present Vice Chancellor Lt. Col Dr Fr Thomas C. Mathew holds his doctorate in Chemistry from USA. Though the vice chancellor's position is usually assumed by a priest from the congregation, the person appointed thus will be having all the qualifications and academic experiences as required by the UGC. Under the vice chancellor comes the registrar. Currently, the registrar is Dr Anil Pinto. The financial matters of the university is managed by a Chief Finance Officer. Various deaneries and departments are headed and represented by deans and department heads.
Academics
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) offers certificate, diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate and research programs in academic disciplines classified under the Schools of Law, Education, Sciences, Social Sciences & Languages, Commerce & Management and Engineering. In 2005, the formerly known Christ College (now Christ University) was the first institution in South India to be re-accredited with A by NAAC.
Undergraduate programmes
The university offers 46 undergraduate programmes in humanities, social sciences, science, commerce and management, education, Law and engineering. Undergraduate programmes are of three-year duration except in the case of Bachelor of Education (BEd, two years), Bachelor of Hotel Management (BHM, four years), Bachelor of Laws (LLB, five years), Bachelor of Technology (BTech, four years) and an integrated BTech/MTech or MBA (five years). Except for Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BSc) programmes follow a Triple Major system.
Wikipedia in the undergraduate programme
The institution entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India to make article writing on Wikipedia a core exercise for the continuous internal assessment of its 1600 undergraduate students in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit and Urdu. The university produced the first of its kind Wikipedia video tutorials in two languages â€" Hindi and Kannada. The Hindi and Kannada articles may be found at collection of Hindi articles and collection of Kannada articles
Post-Graduate programmes
The University offers 47 masters, 17 Master of Philosophy and 21 PhD degree programmes in Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Law, Education, commerce and management, and Engineering. Masters programmes are of two years duration, except for Master of Computer Science and Master of Law which are three years and one-year duration, respectively.
Higher education rankings
The rankings till the year 2016 are summarised in the two tables below. The BBA and BCA programmes are rated among the best in India for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the Science programme was rated the best in India. The university ranking moved up from 31 in 2012 to 8 in 2017.
India Today-Nielsen higher education ranking
Week-Hansa Higher Education Ranking
Academic and Industrial Collaborations
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) is part of the University Studies Abroad Consortium(USAC). CHRIST (Deemed to be University) has collaborations with Western Michigan University, Catholic University of America and Baldwin Wallace University in the USA, Swansea University, Sheffield Hallam University, Liverpool Hope University in the UK, Griffith University in Australia, Lille Catholic University in France, University of Paris, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS), Germany, Zurich University of Applied Sciences and NHTV University of Applied Sciences in Netherland. MoU for exchange programmes were signed with six Korean universities in 2013. There are also collaborations with the following organizations:
- Baldwin Wallace University, Ohio
- Centre for Social Action, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
- Cheshire Homes, India
- Dream a dream Foundation
- enParadigm
- Headstreams, NGO working with Children and adolescents
- IBM
- Institute of Management Accountants
- Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology
- LETSCORP (INDIA) Private Limited â€" Facilitating the extension activities including Career Mapping.
- Make A Difference(MAD)
- National Collaboration with Sangath, (non profit, non governmental: mental heathcentre at Goa
- Nightingales Medical Trust
- ROOTS an early intervention centre â€" Providing orientation and training programmes for the teachers
- Samarthanam Trust for the disabled
- SAP
- Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind
- Swanthana, Daughters of St. Camillus
- Teach For India
- U and I
- Value Base
India Gateway Programme
The India gateway program (IGP) is a short stay program designed for foreign students to experience India. Under this programme, students from a foreign university can visit and study in the university main campus for one semester under a stream that they prefer and approved by the university. In 2014, a batch of 150 Korean students from various South Korean Universities studied in the CHRIST (Deemed to be University).
Libraries
There are two libraries in the city campus: the main library and the 'Knowledge Centre' which is spread across the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth floors of the central block. University library stacks contains 2,20,589 books as of May 2015. Of which 31,703 are reference books. It also includes a good collection of law reports, whose total size is 10,089.Main Library, otherwise known as the UG library consists of 60,339 titles whereas the Knowledge Centre consists of 46,628 titles. Kengeri Library owns around 19,000 titles which are mainly from the engineering and management streams. Library is also subscribed to around 219 national and international periodicals and 198 journals. Of those, 41 are international journals. The library is run by 6 dedicated full-time librarians and several other library assistants. The library database is completely digitized and is managed through Koha software. With the help of this open source management system, all the book issues and returns are recorded online. Users can access their library usage details and can pay their fines through their user accounts. Library uses state of art security systems to secure its collections and premises. 3M security scanners are installed and CCTV cameras are used to ensure the security of the library and its users.
Publications
The university has published over 220 books in Kannada, through Kannada Sangha, a non-profit organisation of the university promoting Kannada around the world and publishes six peer reviewed journals: To make wider the base advance, a full-fledged Centre for Publications was started in the year 2001. Two quarterly journals- Artha-Journal of Social Sciences and Mapana-Journal of Sciences and four biannual journals-Ushus-Journals of Business Management, Tatva-Journal of Philosophy, Atna-Journal of Tourism Studies and CULJ-CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Law Journal. Through the Kannada Sangha, 233 books have been published over the past three decades. The focus of these publications is to inculcate the research culture through research articles, scientific papers, review articles, profiles and interviews that are drawn from universities, colleges and research organisations in India and abroad. The Centre also has to its cap several books on higher education, psychology, conference proceedings, Working papers, Monographs, annual report of the university etc.
Some of the notable works are:
- Guhangari: A Book on Urban Wildlife, CHRIST (Deemed to be University). A naturalist's notes on the Biodiversity at the campus.
- Life Scripts series, published in association with Orient Blackswan
- MindScripts series, along with Orient Blackswan
Membership
The University is a member of the Association of Indian Universities.
Key People
Alumni
- Akanchha Karki, Actress, Theatre Director, Nepal
- Ankur Betageri, poet, fiction writer, art activist
- Gokul Suresh, Actor
- Annu Antony, Malayalam film actress who debuted in the movie Aanandam
- Anto Philip, Co-Founder, Under25
- Chetan K. Shiva, A special scholar
- Francis George, former Member of Parliament representing the Idukki Constituency. Chairman of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress
- Gautham Karthik, Tamil film actor
- Gautam Prakash,Co-Founder Reap Benefit
- Jahnavi Kamath, film actress
- K M Chaitanya, Kannada film maker, Theater director
- Krishna Byre Gowda, M.L.A., Karnataka and President, Karnataka Youth Congress
- Kuldeep Dantewadia, Co-Founder Reap Benefit, Ashoka Fellow
- Madhukeshwar Desai, CEO, Mumbai Centre For International Arbitration, National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
- Madonna Sebastian, Malayalam film actress who debuted in the blockbuster Premam
- Meghana Raj, South Indian Actress
- Nanditha Shwetha, Kannada actress and South Indian Model
- Nicole Faria, Miss Earth 2010
- Nidhhi Agerwal Bollywood and Telugu Actress, Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2014 finalist
- Pearle Maaney, D 4 Dance Anchor, Actress and Model
- Raj Chengappa, Editor-in-Chief, Tribune Group of Newspapers Member of Parliament (Upper House)
- Reba Monica John, Malayalam film actress who debuted in the movie Jacobinte Swargarajyam
- Rima Kallingal, Malayalam film actress
- Sruthi Hariharan, Actress
- Vineeth Vincent, beat boxer
Faculty
- Prof. C. Srinivasaraju, Founder of Kannada Sangha
- Prof. P. Krishnaswami, Central Sahitya Akademi awardee for the translation of Purnachandra Tejaswi's Kannada novel Chidambara Rahasya, to Tamil
- Dr Sudha Murty, Chairperson Infosys Foundation
- Prof. Kurian Kachapally, Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Students
- Thomas Mathew, Malayalam film actor who debuted in the movie Aanandam
World records
On 10 January 2011, Christ Junior College, Bangalore, under ensemble director Vineeth Vincent, in an event titled 'Can You Say Beat Box?' created the largest human beatbox ensemble in the Limca Book of Records with 2136 participants.
According to the Guinness World Records, the record for the largest human beatbox ensemble was achieved by CHRIST (Deemed to be University) (India) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, on 5 February 2011 under ensemble director Vineeth Vincent involving 1,246 participants. The record was broken by Booking.com on 10 December 2013 with 4695 participants.
Controversies
Christ University was involved in a controversy surrounding the granting of deemed university status. According to norms, before the status is granted, the affiliating university (Bangalore University in this case) and the State Government are required to submit a "No-Objection Certificate" (NoC) to the University Grants Commission (UGC). The state government refused to grant the request for an NoC. The UGC relied on the NoC from Bangalore University and the NoC from the state government was not a requirement and recommended university status to the institution. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India based on the UGC recommendation granted the University status. . The institute is now a deemed university.
See also
- List of deemed universities
- Dharmaram College
- Bangalore
References
External links
- Official website
