Saint Claret College, Ziro (SCCZ), has been conferred autonomous status by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi. It is the first college in Arunachal Pradesh to be conferred this prestigious status.
SCCZ was established by the Claretian Formation Association of North East India, a registered charitable society under the aegis of the the Claretian Missionaries of the Province of Northeast India.
The college is located in the verdant countryside inSalaya, near Old Ziro, in the Lower Subansiri districton a 20-acre plot donated by the Lod Kalung Panyu Ayo clans of the Apatani tribe. A college in Ziro had been a long-cherished dream of the Apatani tribe of Ziro Valley. The Claretian Missionaries responded generously to this genuine need. With its dreams for a healthy mixture of traditional and innovative educational endeavours and extension programmes, the college has been working towards realising the educational aspirations of the people of Arunachal, supported ably by the local people and the district administration.
The foundation stone for SCCZ was laid in December 2002 and the first academic year began on 11 August, 2003. The college, which is permanently affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar (RGU), is recognised by the UGC under Sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act.
The motto of the college is ‘Truth, Light, and Life’, which is adopted from the prayers of ancient rishis of India, ‘asato ma sadgamaya,tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrtyor maa mrtamgamaya,’ alluding to the belief that it is through education
that one can achieve truth, light and life.
SCCZ’s vision is to become a premier institute of higher education in Northeast India, committed to providing value-based, soulful higher education for people, especially the tribal youth, in order to help them be honest seekers and practitioners of truth and earnest agents of transformation within and around them.
The mission of the college is to mould intellectually competent, professionally skilled, spiritually evolved, morally upright, socially responsive, and culturally tolerant citizens, through holistic Claretine education, for advancing a civilisation of love.
In its 21 one years of existence, SCCZ has achieved several laurels, such as being the first private college in Arunachal to have been accredited twice with Grade A from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in two cycles; the only HEI in Arunachal to have received a commendation certificate for meritorious services in the field of higher education; and to have been awarded the Best Performing Private College Award by the government of Arunachal.
SCCZ has secured about 300 ranks in the Rajiv Gandhi University Examinations over the years of its existence. Echoing the disciplined and cultured behaviour, the college was awarded the Best Disciplined Team award several times in the inter-collegiate youth festivals conducted by RGU for its affiliated colleges.
SCCZ has excellent infrastructure to complement its achievements:
# A Library with an open access system, automatedthrough an integrated library management system and RFID.
# Indoor games facilities which provide entertainment, and social interaction.
# Outdoor sports such as basketball, volleyball and football, which help the students improve their physical, mental and social wellbeing.
# A gym which affords an array of health benefits.
# A spacious auditorium for hosting cultural events.
# Large, spacious, well-lit classrooms, labs, ICT facilities, support facilities, etc.
SCCZ also has several cells and associations through which the students get opportunities to participate in extension and co- and extra-curricular activities. In addition, SCCZ has tie-ups and MoUs with several institutions, including other autonomous colleges,such as Mount Carmel College (Autonomous), Bengaluru, Karnataka, and St Agnes College (Autonomous), Mangaluru, Karnataka, and Nirmala Institute of Education, Panaji, Goa, facilitating academic and cultural exposure to students.
The college is also a nodal centre for the distance learning programme of IIRS/ISRO, Dehradun. The college organises several workshops, seminars and conferences, thereby facilitating a culture of research. Renowned resource persons are frequently invited to the college to interact with the students and faculty members. One such initiative is the Ziro Literary Festival, which is organised annually in the college campus in collaboration with PwloEntertainment Ltd. The two-day festival is a platform for budding poets, writers, artists and content creators.
The college provides and provisions scholarships for nearly 98% of the students of the college through government and private sources.
A persevering assurance of the institution is to provide value-based, soulful higher education through the Claretine Holistic Education Programme (CHEP).
A well-established counselling cell that caters to the psychological needs of the students and extends its services to society functions in the college.
Hostels for both girls and boys provide students a great living experience – a home away from home. Students have time to relax and enjoy their free time in sports and games, music and other activities in the vast campus.
Academically, the college encourages its faculty members to pursue their doctoral programmes and also to research and publish articles in journals and chapters in books. The college has to its credit the publication of an international peer reviewed multi-disciplinary journal of social sciences for the last 10 years.
The autonomous status conferred on the college not only attests to the culture of quality maintained at SCCZ; it also brings in a lot of responsibilities and opportunities. As an autonomous college, SCCZ is empowered to review its existing courses/programmes and, restructure, redesign and prescribe its own courses/programmes of study and syllabi. It can formulate new courses/programmes within the nomenclature specified by the UGC. The college can also introduce programmes leading to the conferment of PhD. As an autonomous college, it is also entrusted with evolving methods of assessment of students’ performance, conducting examinations, announcing the results, issuing marksheets and other certificates. However, the degree shall be awarded by the parent university, Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU).
To fulfil the requirements of the autonomous status, the statutory bodies of the college, viz, the governing nody, the academic council, the board of studies, and the finance committee will regulate and guide the college.
Currently SCCZ offers nachelor of commerce (BCom), bachelor of arts (BA) in mass communication, BA in eight programmes – anthropology, economics, education, English, history, geography, political science and psychology, bachelor of social work (BSW), and bachelor of business administration (BBA) and postgraduate degrees; MA/MSc. geography and MA political science. In addition, the college offers several certificate courses through its own departments, cells and associations.
SCCZ is the torchbearer in the state as the first college to be granted autonomy, thereby placing Arunachal on the list of states having autonomous colleges and fulfilling one of the directives of the NEP-2020. This milestone will go a long way in creating a roadmap for quality higher education in Arunachal.
