India today is the second largest higher education network in the world. With colleges and universities mushrooming across the length and breadth of our country, students find it difficult to choose the best college for their higher education. While many of them promise of a complete student-friendly experience through and through, only a few hotspots such as – Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya live upto the set expectations, and strive towards giving back to society trained and capable professionals of tomorrow.
A premier institution of North India based out of Jalandhar (Punjab), Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya is known for providing value-based, employment-oriented quality education to women. Established in the year 1927 at Lahore by Mahatma Hans Raj ji, a very dedicated and selfless worker of DAV Movement, who laid the foundation of this institution in Lahore with the noble mission of educating the girls, HRMMV actively participated in the struggle of Independence. The institution was shifted and re-established at Jalandhar in 1948 after partition, where Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan, himself an enlightened soul, and the then Vice President of India inaugurated the present core block of college on 7th Nov., 1959.
“Student progression is our important concern”, quoted – Dr (Mrs) Ajay Sareen, the principal of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, enunciating how the institute focuses on student-centric experiences for all their students. Adding to her above point, she continued – “Our institution ensures that capacity building and skill enhancement initiatives are taken for the benefit of students, where Professional development courses, personality development programmes, motivational lectures, and workshops, are organized to enhance soft skills, communication skills and computing skills of the students”. Through the conversation with the Principal we also learnt that Yoga classes, lectures on health and hygiene awareness by experts held at HRMMV on regular intervals help in developing life skills, whereas the career counseling cell organizes various workshops and lectures to provide career guidance.
Creating the nation’s leading women leaders
“Coaching classes for various competitive exams such as banking, railway, JRF, NET, CA, and SSC are also organized regularly in order to provide an impetus to student progression”, shared – Dr (Mrs) Ajay Sareen, talking about the additional efforts carried out at HRMMV. Moreover, all thanks to these opportunities put in by the management – students have qualified many competitive exams like UGC, JRF, and IELTS etc, while significant number of graduates and post graduates progress to higher education in reputed institutes and are well placed in teaching, accountancy profession and industry and many have become successful entrepreneurs.
The teachers play an important role at HRMMV operating as the main backbone to the most unique and innovative learning experiences offered at the institute. Be it via online or offline modes of teaching/learning, the whole experience is facilitated using the ICT-enabled experiential and participative learning methods. Additionally, students are also encouraged to enroll in MOOCs through SWAYAM and NPTEL and hone their skills as per global requirements by joining concurrent courses. The teaching imparted by the teachers beyond just the classrooms has resulted in the performance of students in university examinations to always be exceptional with a large number of university merit positions.
Basing the whole educational setup in a very welcoming environment and having recognized the need for skill development, the institution began with smaller steps about twenty years ago and reached the pinnacle in the last five years. Growth in skill development courses has been both vertical and horizontal, and since the year 2000, the college has been offering Mass Communication and Video Production, Computer Application and Bio-Technology as vocational subjects, and gradually subjects like Cosmetology, Fashion Designing and Garment Construction, and Bio- Informatics were added. Some Master’s courses like M.Sc. Bioinformatics and M.Sc. Fashion Designing was also added, and in the past five years following additions were made: Skill Development Vocational courses Skill Courses under Kaushal Kendra M.Voc -Web Technology and Multimedia B.Voc – Web Technology and Multimedia, Banking and Financial Services, Fashion Technology, Journalism and Media, Mental Health Counseling, Cosmetology and Wellness. It is worth mentioning here that the institution is pioneering in discarding colonial gowns being used for ages for convocation by ‘Uttriyas’-a unique kind of gown conceived and prepared by students of fashion designing and multimedia. This unique endeavor of the institution has created not only one but many success stories for young entrepreneurs.
With a lush green campus at students’ disposal, HRMMV is catering to the educational needs of more than 5000 girls and providing them skills and education according to the needs of the industry. The college has got the highest grade in NAAC accreditation twice, and has excelled beyond expectations to have established itself as one of the best in the field of sports and cultural activities by holding great records. The sports infrastructure too is unmatched in the region with facilities to cater to 18 outdoor and 7 indoor games including international level swimming pool. College Campus also harbors a Ragini Auditorium with a huge sitting capacity of 1000 persons, SDC Conference Hall with a seating capacity of 185, IT Conference hall with a seating capacity of 80, Inno-Tech Conference Room with a seating capacity of 50, a Board Room, and an IQAC Room. Lastly, HRMMV believes in equal educational opportunities for all, and thus, is home to varied scholarship and loan opportunities, which include – HMV Brilliance Award for students pursuing their UG or PG Courses, HMV Sports Women Protsahan Scholarship, HMV Anuja Scholarship, Mahatma Hans Raj Beti Padhao Mission Scholarship, along with Various other scholarships/concessions for meritorious and needy students.
Dr (Mrs) Ajay Sareen – Principal
A very important personality of HRMMV, Dr Sareen has several degrees credited to her name, including M.A., M.Phil and a Ph.D in English. An active research enthusiast, she has engaged herself in Research Work concerning the ‘Diasporic writers of South Asian Countries’ namely M.G. Vassanji for five years and participated in Research Work regarding American poets namely Robert Frost for two years. Also, she has published over 43 Research papers in International/National Refereed Journals of Repute published by various institutions with ISSN/ISBN numbers. And, with over 32 Years of Experience in the field of Education, she currently heads the parade of HRMMV as the go-to guide and a person of great inspiration, for both the onboard teachers and the students.
