Striking a different path
VANI DORAISAMY
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Research in niche areas connected with the environment makes this institute stand out.
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PHOTO: K. V. SRINIVASAN
STATE-OF-THE-ART: The Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer at the Vivekananda Institute of Algal Technology.
In a State where, despite top-range faculty being available, non-technical educational institutions are yet to establish themselves as research hubs, the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith has taken a decisive step off the beaten track. The Vidyapith runs a day and evening college and two research units. The college is now in its diamond jubilee year.
Not just the infrastructure established, even the quality of research being done in two of the institutes run by the Vidyapith — Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology and Vivekananda Institute of Algal Technology — are on a level that could make the city-based institution one of the premier resource centres for biodiversity and environmental biotech research anywhere in the world.
Keeping in tune with the growing awareness on environmental issues, VIAT plays an active participatory role in micro algae-based effluent treatment projects — known as phycoremediation — recognised globally as a natural and eco-friendly way of safe effluent disposal. The VIAT lab also houses a culture collection of potentially valuable micro-algae and technology for field-level deployment.
Funded by the management and industries, VIAT uses state-of-the-art equipment such as Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and a thermocycler for gene amplification, for top-notch algal biotech research. VIAT handles research projects for Ranipet-based industries such as SNAP Alginates and Natural Products, Ultramarine Pigments and STAHL India.
Says V. Sivasubramanian, VIAT director, ``Phycoremediation is a new technology that is cheaper and also oxygenates the environment through photosynthesis and is useful in removing toxic waste
such as heavy metals in industrial effluents.''
At the Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology (VINSTROM), the focus is on documenting and studying the ecological biodiversity of microfungi. ``The bulk of work here consists of collecting microfungi from various habitats, cultureing, purifying and identifying them.
The aim is to build a comprehensive database of microfungi, especially in the Western Ghats which is one of the global biodiversity hotspots,'' says T.S. Suryanarayanan, the director. To this end, a collaborative venture has been worked out with the U.S.-based Smithsonian Institute to simultaneously sample the fungal wealth of biodiversity-rich zones such as the Western Ghats, Costa Rica and the Panama forests. Plus, VINSTROM is also working on a cancer cure drug from microfungi, apart from signing up for a Ministry of Environment and Forests project.
VIAT and VINSTROM are examples of the comprehensive education module that the Vidyapith has been pioneering since its inception. With the conferment of autonomy status in 2004, the focus has shifted to holistic personality development, rather than just imparting academic skills, says the principal, V.V. Subramanian.
Course restructure
PHOTO: K. V. SRINIVASAN
SPECIALISED: The Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology carries out seminal work in fungal biodiversity.
With communication skills becoming the mantra of the recruitment marketplace, students, both from the day and evening colleges, are being encouraged to hone their abilities to become employable and marketable products, he adds.
The number of companies signing up for campus recruitment has increased over the years, with more than 90 firms headhunting per year in the last two years.
Also, traditional courses have been re-structured to suit present-day needs. Since 2002, the college offers degree programmes in plant biology, and plant biotechnology (as against the conventional botany course), advanced zoology and biotechnology (in place of the zoology course).
Several branches of commerce, biochemistry, and masters' programmes in IT and commerce have been introduced.
Industrial psychology has been introduced as a paper in the undergraduate philosophy course.
And then there are the moral, ethical value add-ons: students get hands-on training in crisis management and AIDS awareness and outreach programmes, apart from lending a hand in traffic management.
The focus, says the principal, has not moved away from the Ramakrishna Mission's core philosophy, empowering the underprivileged.
A good many students still come from economically weaker sections and are equipped with the necessary life skills to survive in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
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Karnataka
Chennai
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Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
