The State’s first private self-financing professional college, Mar Athanasios College For Advanced Studies Thiruvalla (MACFAST), at Thukalasserry near Thiruvalla, is all set to spread its wings further and take students to the azure horizon of the corporates, exposing them to greater employment and research opportunities, soon.
Talking to The Hindu, Principal Cherian J.Kottayil, said that MACFAST would be introducing a unique ‘corporate badging’ scheme in association with leading companies which could identify talented students with right kind of aptitude, interest and passion that suited well to the requirements of the industry concerned.
Under this programme, students will be provided with a ‘corporate badge’ by companies that have selected them, acknowledging their aptitude and domain knowledge.
Those who were ‘badged’ would virtually be part of that company which, in turn, would give them live projects and internships, Fr. Kottayil said.
According to him, many recent surveys indicate that a large per cent of graduates in India are unemployable. India Skills Report, 2019-’20, says that only about 46.21 per cent students in the country were found employable, compared with that of 47.38 per cent in 2018.
In yet another historic achievement, MACFAST bagged eight out of the first 10 ranks in both the MBA and MCA examinations conducted by the Mahatma Gandhi University, this year.
Innovation has always been the hallmark of MACFAST that had launched the State’s first campus-based community radio service, ‘Radio Macfast-90.4,’ 10 years ago and the popular ‘Green and Clean City’ project in 2010.
Solar-powered campus
MACFAST became State’s first solar-powered campus in 2011. The 130 kw solar power plant installed on the rooftop comfortably meets the annual power demand of the entire campus.
“The innovative campus-based solar power plant was MACFAST’s answer to our demand for Green Energy,” says Metropolitan Archbishop of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church, Thomas Mar Koorilos, who is the patron and driving spirit of the institution.
The college offers nine key post-graduate courses, that include rare subjects of Phyto Medical Science and Bio Nanotechnology.
Fr. Cherian said the college always stressed the importance of academia-industry collaboration.
“Education sector is sure to witness tremendous changes in the post-COVID scenario and institutions can survive only if they keep abreast of the latest developments taking place in their respective domain,” he says.
