There are certain qualities which make a college worthy of being recognized as one of the best colleges there are. These attributes may include excellent classroom sessions accompanied by brilliant facilities, competent support services, outstanding curricular, extra-curricular, and infrastructural facilities, and so on. The best colleges focus on the overall

personality and career development of each student, while giving them ample opportunity to explore their limits and to become better versions of themselves.

On its quest of discovering the college of the year 2021, the Knowledge Review magazine came across MIT Arts, Commerce and Science College (MITACSC). Situated at Alandi Road, Pune, it was established in the year 2007 under the aegis of Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational Research (MAEER) Pune, affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University and recognized by the Government of Maharashtra.

The very objective behind the establishment of this college is aligned with the vision of the founder of the MIT group, Prof. (Dr.) Vishwanath Karad. It was an initiative to disseminate the professional education with quality while giving easy access to the young generation from the country with the mission for excellence in education. The college was started with the strength of 17 students while offering BCA course.

With the glorious performance of its teachers and students, MITACSC is marching towards novel horizons of success in terms of new courses, number of students, quality placements, and the holistic development of the students for making them responsible and successful citizens.

Today, the college offers a range of 12 lucrative undergraduate and postgraduate programs and one certificate course. These courses include Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business, Bachelor of Administration in Computer Application, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Master of Science in Computer Science, Master of Science in Computer Application, Master of Commerce, Master of Arts in Mass Communication and Journalism, Certificate Course in German, and so on.

Infrastructural Advantages

MITACSC is located in a serene environment on the bank of holy river Indrayani in Alandi, Maharashtra. The college campus is built over four acres land with state-of-the-art infrastructure leveraging the latest technology, spacious and smart classrooms, hygienic washrooms, provision of purified drinking water, high resolution CCTV cameras, sports ground, and indoor sports room. It also provides other facilities such as well-equipped computer labs, automated and digitalised library, sophisticated conference room, seminar hall, cafeteria, and much more. The well-equipped campus enables students to enjoy their journey of learning. It also enables MITACSC to shape them in an industry-ready manner.

Focus on Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

MITACS designs numerous course objectives and learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are defined on three levels, i.e., course outcomes (COs), programme outcomes (POs), and programme specific outcomes (PSOs). These objectives and outcomes are aligned with the syllabus designed by the affiliating university, i.e Savitribai Phule University. The college has a well-designed mechanism to communicate COs, POs, and PSOs to all the stakeholders. The mechanism includes following ways of communication:

1. The college website: COs, POs, and PSOs are displayed on the college website.
2. Admission Counselling: The college provides admission counselling to the students and parents. The admission counsellors explain to the students and parents about COs, POs, and PSOs.
3. Induction Programme: The college conducts induction programme for the first-year students at the beginning of the new academic year. The principal and heads of respective departments explain the nature of the programmes and their expected outcomes.
4. Classrooms: Course in-charges discuss the outcomes of the particular course to acquaint the students with learning outcomes.
5. Department Display Boards: POs and PSOs are displayed on department display boards.

An Erudite Personality

The personality paving the path of excellence in education for the college is none other than Prof. Dr. B. B. Waphare, the Principal. He is a visionary, responsive, disciplined, and dedicated principal. He is working very strategically and innovatively to pursue the excellence in quality education and to prove the predetermined success parameters from the entire stakeholder’s point of view. Dr. Waphare emphasizes on developing research aptitude amongst students and faculty members with right component of social, moral, and global values with professional competence for facing the industrial and sectoral challenges. He has 29 years rich experience in teaching and research. Dr. Wapahre has 110 + research publications in reputed international and national journals, and two chapters in books in the field of Mathematics. He has worked on editorial bodies of various journals. Dr. Waphare has organised, attended, and participated in more than 100 international and national conferences and seminars.

Making Students Future-Ready

Team MITACSC believes that its students are capable of interacting with the world in a more effective manner. It is also improving itself and its processes to make them more vibrant and enabling them to participate in the world wholeheartedly. It is in the college’s policy and thoughts, where it believes in developing the overall personality of the students by emphasizing on practical exposure to all the students and creating future responsible global citizens.

As a special initiative, MITACSC organizes ‘M-Pulse’- its flagship intercollegiate event. This event is organised by the students for the students with the great contribution of Student Council and student representatives. This event is a great platform for the students in all the disciplines from different colleges in India.

The Success Story

MITACS has provided students with tremendous opportunities to learn, grow, and transform into seasoned professionals. Owing to its dedicated endeavours, it has been decorated with many laurels. Some of its major achievements are as follows:

1. India Today – Best College Rankings 2021 – B.B.A.(C.A.) (2nd in Pune City, 34th in India), B.Sc. (C.S.) (4th in Pune City, 129th in India), B.B.A. & B.B.A.(I.B.) (5th in Pune City, 82nd in India), B.Com. (7th in Pune City, 141st in India).
2. Recognized as Swatchhta Action Plan Institution in 2020 by Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education, Dept. of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
3. Recognized as Member of National Rural Entrepreneurship Mission in 2020 by Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education, Dept. of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
4. Awarded as “Top Degree College of the Year 2020, Maharashtra” at National Educational Excellence Awards & Conference 2020 presented by Beginup Research Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. on 27^th November 2020.
5. Listed “The 10 Best Training & Placements Institutions in India 2020” in Annual Listing by Education Brainiac.

Standing Tall Against the Pandemic

 The college’s management opines that Covid-19 has compelled the entire economy and sectors to change. Education sector is the most affected sector. “During first Lock Down suddenly colleges got closed and we need to shift in online mode. We trained our teachers first to organise and conduct the lectures online with Google Meet platform. The notes and other study material were provided through cloud drives to the students,” expresses the authority. This has enabled MITACSC in attaining mastery in the conduction of teaching and learning in both online and offline mode.

The college designed a plan to keep the campus more clean, hygienic, and safer for the students during this pandemic. It arranged hand sanitizers at different entry points, hand wash bottles in washrooms, fogging in the campus, and in the rush areas twice in a day. Temperature of every person entering the campus is taken and recorded into entry book on main gate.

Prepared for the Future

Team MITCSC believes that its future is very bright. The management is working on many fronts for continuous improvement and for more sustainable processes associated with teaching learning and administration. It includes infrastructural upgradation, enhancement of laboratories, introducing new courses, more industry-academia interaction, more focus on quality research and publications, introducing more student-centric activities, improvement in teaching learning pedagogy, and many more. “This journey of going forward will add the value in the knowledge of teachers and learners as well because we all are lifelong learners,” shares the college’s authorities.