Ramjas builds knowledge centre to speak innovation

new delhi: In a bid to bring a change in the academic culture, Ramjas College is setting up a Knowledge Centre on its premises. The idea is to give a free hand to students and the faculty to explore and create knowledge beyond the classroom. The college is turning the existing student activity centre into Knowledge Centre which will bring under its umbrella nine add-on courses and various club activities besides tying up with NGOs and corporates for entrepreneurship programmes, projects and research, summer internships and in-house training programmes.
"We have already started construction and the Knowledge Centre will be ready by the time the new batch joins in July.It will provide specialised learning to the students and freedom to the faculty to innovate. No DU college has adopted such a concept before,'' said Rajendra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College. He added that the objective of the Knowledge Centre would be "to create and access knowledge, make best use of the existing knowledge and innovate and reorient''.
The college is trying to get funds from different government and private agencies for the new project. However, the principal says the college has enough offers at hand already to start the Knowledge Centre. Debraj Mukherjee, a faculty member from the department of English, explained, "We are trying to bring in a culture of exchange. Young people have ideas. Now they will have a platform to express them. Even the teachers will have the freedom to teach beyond the curriculum. For instance, may be I can teach rap music as literature, which is something I wouldn't be allowed to do otherwise. Or a history teacher can teach the history of Eskimos.'' He added, "It will be like generating ideas in a coffee shop. We can never go beyond the curriculum in the classroom.''
The principal said that all the faculty members were enthusiastic about the upcoming Knowledge Centre. Whatever extra modules they prepare beyond the syllabus or any activity they plan for creation of knowledge, will be approved by a college committee headed by the principal. "There are so many restrictions from the university if we have to start something new. This knowledge centre will solve this problem,'' Prasad said.
The college, however, has not yet decided on the fees to be charged from the students. "If we get enough funding, we will not charge anything from the students. Otherwise, the fee will be nominal. The new students will have something different to look forward to in Ramjas,'' Prasad said.