St. Joseph’s College(Auto): Creating a More Equitable and Just Society

St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous): Creating a More Equitable and Just Society

Bengaluru is famous as the Silicon Valley of India. Karnataka’s capital city is a well-known IT hub and some of the world’s major IT corporations operate out of the city. Apart from MNCs, Bengaluru also boasts of a multitude of start-ups and Indian tech companies. This bustling metropolis is also home to some of the best colleges and universities in the country. A shining example of this, is a college which is making waves as one of the best places to study data analytics, the St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous).

St Joseph’s College (Autonomous) is one of Bengaluru’s oldest and most reputed colleges. Established 139 years ago, the college imparts graduate, post-graduate and research training, education, mentorship, and leadership. The college is proud of its tradition and success, but never complacent. Headed by Principal Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ, the Faculties continuously endeavour to be relevant in the changing times. That is why they enjoy their national position of eminence.

St. Joseph’s was declared as an autonomous college by the Government of Karnataka in 2005. In 2014, the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi declared it a ‘College of Excellence’. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) re-accredited St Joseph’s College ‘A++’, after securing 3.79 out of 4 GPA in March 2017. This is one of the highest in India. UGC also digniﬁed the college as a mentor for other colleges aspiring for NAAC accreditation.

Additionally, the college has been awarded DBT Star Status and DST FIST grant by Ministry of Science and Technology. Because of all these awards and achievements, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has recommended upgrading the college into a full-ﬂedged university and has directed the state government to pass St Joseph’s University Act.

The college oﬀers the widest spectrum of under-grad and post-grad courses in natural and physical sciences, economics, journalism, communication, languages, arts, and commerce. In the ﬁeld of data science, analytics and management, the college oﬀers a litany of courses, which are listed as below:

BDMA – Digital Media and Animation
BVMF – Visual Media and Filmmaking
BCA – Regular
BCA – Data Analytics
BAVC (B.A. in Visual Communication)
BSW – Bachelor of Social Work
BVOC – Bachelor of Vocation in Digital Media and Animation
BVOC – Bachelor of Vocation in Visual Media and Filmmaking
Sc. – Computer Science, mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry
Sc. – Big Data Analytics

Mission Statement

St. Joseph’s College, seeks to form men and women who will be agents of change, committed to the creation of a society that is just, secular and democratic. The education oﬀered is oriented towards enabling students to strive for both academic and human excellence. The college pursues academic excellence by providing a learning environment that constantly challenges students and supports the ethical pursuit of intellectual curiosity and ceaseless enquiry. Human excellence is promoted through courses and activities that help students achieve personal integrity, and conscientize them to the injustice prevalent in society.

Vision Statement

Striving for a just, secular, democratic and economically sound society which cares for the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized.

Core Values
For 139 years, St Joseph’s College has prepared men and women to serve their fellow citizens and create a more equitable and just society. The objectives of the college are academic excellence, social concern, and character formation. It opens its gates to every student irrespective of caste, creed, or gender. In keeping with the admission policy of the management, the socio-economically marginalized groups receive special preference. The college motto is ‘Faith and Toil’.

The Wise Leader

Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ, Principal of St Joseph’s College (Autonomous) obtained his B.Ph., B.Th., M.A. (English), and then completed Ph.D. in Suﬁ Literature. He has undergone 17 years of Jesuit training.

Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ took over as Principal on April 17, 2015 and has led the expansion of the institution in new directions such as the M.Sc. (big data analytics), M.Sc. (food science) and technology, M.Com., M.A. (advertisements and public relations), courses in commerce and management, and interdisciplinary courses in humanities such as communicative English, international relations and peace studies, public policy, etc.

Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ draws inspiration daily from the Jesuit ideal of Magis (in Spanish meaning ‘doing more’) which directs each individual to look at their work in terms of doing more and doing so unselﬁshly. He deﬁnes his task in the light of the Jesuit vision of forming ‘men and women for others and with others’, and visualizes the institution achieving the highest levels wherefrom this ideal can be realized in the best possible way.

As an Islamic scholar, Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ is in diﬀerent national cum international boards. He is the member of : (a) JAM (Jesuits Among Muslims), a worldwide association; (b) JAMIA (Jesuits Among Muslims in Asia); (c) JAMI (Jesuits Among Muslims in India); (d) ISA (Islamic Studies Association); (e) He is on the board of SALAAM – an international Journal.

Standing Apart

Spread over 8.44 acres at the heart of Bengaluru city, St Joseph’s College maintains state-of-the-art infrastructure, oﬀering a great learning atmosphere. Notably, the college oﬀers accessibility for diﬀerently abled students and staﬀ members. There are ICT-enabled smart classrooms, state-of-the-art laboratories, libraries, sports facilities, auditoriums, and hostels at the campus.

In particular, the department of Big Data Analytics has state-of-the-art laboratory with Cisco telepresence video conferencing system and 61 desktops with high-speed network connection which is open 24/7 for department students. The college provides scholarship to students from economically weaker sections. They facilitate soft skill training programmes. Apart from academic excellence, character formation and social concern are essential aspects of the institution’s education. Practical classes, projects, ﬁeld work and internships are compulsory for all the courses conducted here. M.Sc. in Big Data Analytics, particularly, has a semester-long industry internship which is compulsory as a course completion criterion. The college also makes sure to maintain a strong and vibrant industry academia relationship. For example, the M.Sc. (Big Data Analytics) course was started in 2016 in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). College maintains a very high standard for this course and continuously supplement their teaching with guest faculty of high academic standing from reputed institutions and industry experts for specialized subjects.

Guiding the Thinkers and Leaders of Tomorrow

The college has a placement cell that provides information on careers and jobs to students. Besides arranging placements (on and oﬀ campus), the cell also organizes interviews, career counselling, career mapping, internships, and aptitude tests for ﬁnal year students. Thirty hours certiﬁed skill development course is compulsory for ﬁnal year students as part of placement process. The college has formed collaborations with Internshala, CII, AIU. As many as 183 platforms, companies, organisations, and start-ups are active participants of placement process.

Riding the Change-Train

The unexpected and long outbreak of Covid-19 has ushered in change that was inevitable, but also desirable. The students at St. Joseph’s College are now proﬁcient and comfortable working and interacting on a myriad of platforms and techniques, which have not been used before. Almost overnight the staﬀ and students were migrated to online teaching, evaluation, appraisal, and internships, using a diﬀerent approach, and digitising their way through new challenges. Sharing study material and videos over the internet and open book online practical examinations became the new norm in this changed environment.

Curriculum is always upgraded every three years. The college is incorporating suggestions from corporate entities to make this a truly industry-oriented professional course. Students are continuously encouraged to attend conferences, present papers, and participate in diﬀerent competitions like Hackathon, Hackerarth and Kaggle. The college plans to start Bachelor of vocational course on cyber security which will provide immense job opportunities. The college is also planning to conduct international conferences which will help students to participate and benchmark their work, out in the global world.