Star College Scheme (SCS) has been initiated by Department of Biotechnology (DBT),Govt. of India in 2008 to support colleges and universities offering undergraduate education to improve science teaching across the country. DBT is committed to the values of i) Pursuit of excellence ii) Academic and intellectual freedom iii) Creativity and innovation iv) Diversity v) Cooperation and Communication & vi) Accountability. DBT has therefore, launched a scheme for improving critical thinking and 'hands on' experimental work at undergraduate (college) level in sciences. It is expected to encourage, more students to take up higher education in science.
Four departments of Shivaji College, namely, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry and Zoology,have been supported by the Star College Scheme by DBT since May, 2019. A Memorandum of understanding (MoA) between Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Sciences, Govt. of India, and Shivaji College was made on May 29, 2019.
This has tremendously boosted our capacity in enhancing the experiential learning of our students through additional experiments, project work and summer training programs. Grant received under this scheme has also expanded our ability to take students for educational trips and organize more workshops/conferences/seminars. Outreach activities have also been conducted by the college, thus, not only enhancing the knowledge of our own students, but also that of faculty and students hailing from schools/colleges with inadequate infrastructure.
