Many colleges and universities across India have a common mission of helping students become complete individuals ready to take their spot in this competitive world outside. For facilitating such easy learning curves for all, involvement of extracurricular activities is important, in addition to providing all-rounded collegiate experiences. Despite India being a hotspot of educational havens striving to impart only quality education, only quite a few universities live up to the expectations and Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (Deemed University) – VMRF DU is one among that lot, that combines serious academics with a lot of fun-filled experiences.
Started in 1982 as the pioneer institution of Vinayaka Missions, in the year 2001 the “Deemed to be University” status was conferred on Vinayaka Missions by MHRD Government of India, with the recommendations of the UGC, as the 48th Deemed to be University in India. The conducive environment provided by the University helps every student to achieve excellence in their chosen field of specialization. Nearly 15,000 students are studying in the various constituent colleges, and every year approximately 2000 medical, dental, homeopathy, paramedical, engineering and management professionals besides arts & science graduates graduate from the Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation campuses successfully. The dynamic environment created by the Trust helps every student to develop his/ her rational, critical and creative powers, thereby enabling the fullest possible intellectual and personal growth.
Consisting of over 1600 trained individuals leading the parade as the onboard faculty members train students towards achieving excellence, in an inclusive environment of rewarding experiences. The success of VMRF DU lies in its highly qualified and experienced faculty who are competent and dedicated to providing excellent education. Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation takes pride in being the only one of its kind in India that has established three medical colleges, one dental college, and two engineering colleges apart from other nursing and homeopathy colleges.
Future Imbibed Education & Learning
“We strongly believe that research necessitates the faculty to be up to date in the scientific developments in their domain, where we have made it mandatory for them to access the latest journals and literature, in turn, improving the teaching learning set up”, shared Prof. (Dr.) P. K. Sudhir, the Vice Chancellor of the University. Continuing on his above point he added – “The research commitment among faculty has improved considerably resulting in more Publications, Patents, Seed Money and Extramural Projects”. Through a brief conversation with the Vice Chancellor, he elaborated on how the university has planned to increase these metrics sizably in the near future through strategic plans.
Talking about the curation process of every course at the University, the Vice Chancellor shared – “Curriculum designing for every program and course at Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation is done meticulously in order to produce graduates who have the right knowledge, skill and attitude and are globally competent”. Also ensuring that the curriculum developed is in line with the industry demands and trends, program outcomes and course outcomes are derived in line with the vision and mission of the University. Inputs from Experts in Board of Studies and Academic Council across the region are also taken into consideration, and international experts and collaborators are welcomed to take part in the curriculum curation process. This ensures employability of the graduates and helps in honing their entrepreneurship skills to create an organization and employ multiple employees.
The university has formed a NEP Cell to incorporate the various aspects of the policy into the present system, multiple Sensitization workshops were organized for the faculty and students in this regard. The University also started the Faculty of Interdisciplinary studies to promote Interdisciplinary learning, and has registered for Academic Bank of Credits and in the process of enhancing Academic flexibility including multiple entry and exit. Adding a personal note to the aspect of NEP and its importance in India’s education system, the Vice Chancellor ecstatically shared – “Personally, I welcome the initiative and there are many good aspects in the policy and it has been prepared with a vision to make India the Global Knowledge Super power”.
Redefining Holistic Perspectives
Operating with fully furnished classrooms with LCD Projectors, Computers and Interactive Devices, and a Media Room, the faculty utilize these facilities to the fullest and create video lectures and upload in the web portal and other social media. All thanks to the impressive ICT-enabled infrastructure, the pandemic phase was handled with ease. Additionally, teachers were trained with specific professional development opportunities in order to increase their ability to use ICT for formative learning assessments, individualized instruction, accessing online resources, and for fostering student interaction and collaboration, resulting in Student motivation, Student attainment levels, Student engagement in subject learning.
Destined to contribute only highly-skilled individuals, at VMRF DU only job-relevant learning and skills are passed on to the students. By informing them about the outside world’s expectations, and preparing them for future job tasks and new employment patterns, additional training and work experience is given to improve upon the initial competencies acquired in the classroom. The Finishing School Programme has been mandated to all the graduates of VMRF DU to enhance their skills set so that they have a competitive edge in the Internship and Placement opportunities.
Also to boost the job-preparedness and strengthen the industry-academia bond, the University has signed MoUs with reputed industries and institutes of National Importance such as Wipro Life Sciences Lab, Bangalore, Siemens Centre of Excellence of Manufacturing, Trichy and several other renowned names and brands.
Lastly, VMRF DU believes facilities and environment have long been recognized as catalysts for innovation and entrepreneurship, and thus, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy was drafted in tune with National Innovation and Start Up Policy 2019. With a clear objective of engaging students and faculty in innovative thinking and research, several initiatives have brought success in shaping the students as Innovators and Entrepreneurs. Specifically the Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship Cell was started to enable the constituent institutes to actively engage students, faculty, research scholars and staff in innovation, incubation and startup related activities.
Loans & Scholarships
VMRF DU offers scholarships for students based on Merit, Sports, etc. Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (Deemed to be University) offers scholarships/fee concessions and fee waiver to recognize and reward meritorious students. These scholarships are given every year to help young aspiring students to pursue higher education. All in all, VMRF DU is assisting students who are in need of Educational loans for pursuing their higher studies provided by the Various Nationalized & Private Banks such as – SBI, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, City Union bank, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, and many more. The University is also looking forward to inviting a few banks to arrange for processing applications for education loans at the counseling venue. Candidates can utilize the services of those banks for on-spot in principle sanction subject to norms laid down by the respective banks.
Prof. (Dr) P. K. Sudhir – Vice-Chancellor
A leading academician, administrator and researcher in the field of Homoeopathy and Health Sciences, (Dr) P. K. Sudhir is the Vice-Chancellor of Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (Deemed to be University) (VMRFDU) Salem, Tamil Nadu, India since September 2018, the first Vice-Chancellor in a multidisciplinary University from the field of Homoeopathy, with more than 30 years professional, academic and administrative experience in the field of Health Sciences. He was the former Controller of Examinations of Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur for a period of two terms. He has delivered lectures in various National and International Conferences in India and abroad. He has published various scientific articles in National and International journals and has been awarded Dr. Mahendra Singh Memorial Best Administrator Award, Kolkata in 2014 and National Rejoice AYUSH Award, New Delhi in 2019.
