PRINCIPAL'S ANNUAL REPORT :

* Highly esteemed Chief Guest, Former Vice-Chancellor Dr. Maruthamuthu
* Distinguished members of the Management
* Members of the Staff – Teaching and Non-teaching
* Special Invitees, My Dear Students, Ladies and Gentlemen

   
       Now, I have the pleasure in presenting the 37th  Annual Report of the College.

The Guru Nanak College was started as an undergraduate institution for men in 1971, in commemoration of the 500th birthday of the great Saint Guru Nanak Devji, with Late Lt. Col. G.S. Gill as President and Late Padmashri P.N. Dhawan as the Secretary.  This esteemed institution has recorded steady growth for over three decades, contributing to the all round holistic development of its students.  Today, the college has blossomed into a full-fledged co-educational post-graduate and Research Institution with 9 Under graduate courses and 3 Post Graduate Courses in the Day College and 9 Under graduate courses and 3 Post Graduate Courses in the Evening College.  In keeping with the times, special mention may be made of  the new courses introduced in the Evening College, namely, B.Sc.(Visual Communication), B.Sc (Electronic Media), M.Sc (Bioinformatics) and MBA with AICTE and University of Madras approval.  MCA is to be started from the next academic year. The student strength is around 1800 in the Day College and 2200 in the Evening College. 
Besides offering instruction for the Degree courses of the University of Madras, we also have facilities for research leading to M.Phil., and Ph.D., Degrees in the faculties of Zoology, Economics, Defence Studies and Commerce.    The total number of Ph.D., holders on the teaching staff rolls is 34.  It is indeed a pride for the institution that above 50% of the staff are Doctorates.  
In 2003, the college was accredited with B++ Grade ( equivalent to 5 star level) by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of the UGC.  In 2005, Our College obtained ISO 9001:2000 Certification.        

Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) created by the University of Madras, measures the quality of the Colleges affiliated to the University of Madras, based on various criteria.  For the year 2005, only 9 Colleges out of 117 affiliated colleges were awarded distinction under IQAC.  I am proud to state that  Guru Nanak College is one among the top  9 Colleges to achieve this distinction. This year we are yet to receive the results of the analysis.

ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES:

The English Association started its activities by conducting competitions in essay writing, Poetry writing, elocution and quiz. A “Question Hour” programme was conducted. A panel of eminent and senior professors along with Dr.Geetha Madhavan, Attorney, Madras High Court answered the students who raised thought provoking questions on Politics, Society and Education. The Tamil Association was inaugurated by Dr.Mohammed Iqbal. The Association conducted essay and poetry writing, oratorical and quiz competitions to motivate and improve the students’ phonetic skills. The Hindi Association was inaugurated by Dr.Vidya Sharma, Professor, Dept. of Hindi, MOP Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai. The Association has been active in conducting various programmes for the promotion of Hindi Language. The Economic Association was inaugurated by Dr.R.Srinivasan, Full Time Member, State Planning Commission, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, who delivered a special lecture on “Design of VAT”. The Department of Defence and Strategic Studies organized a guest lecture by Commandant T.Shekar, CRPF, Avadi, Chennai, who spoke on the availability PF job opportunities in Para- Military Forces. Scholastic competitions were held as part of the Association activities.

The Mathematics Association organised the inaugural lecture of “Finite State of Automata” by Dr.K.Thiru Sangu, Reader, Dept. of Mathematics, SIVET College, Gowriwakkam. The Physics Association, “Watts up-2007” was inaugurated by Dr.Kandiah Arulmozhi, Ph.D..,P.E.,G.E., President of Earth Mechanics Inc., California, U.S.A. The Association conducted various events. The Chemistry Association was inaugurated by Dr.Venkatesh of Michigan State University who delivered a lecture on “Understanding Apex”. The department also conducted programmes for students’ welfare. The special feature of the Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology Association was its celebration of the 200th birth anniversary of the Evolutionist Charles Darwin, which was followed by a lecture delivered by Rudi Jansma, ecologist and International Lecturer for the Theosophical Society, Pasadena, California, U.S.A. The Zoology Association was inaugurated by Dr.K.Venkataraman, Member Secretary, National Bio-diversity Authority, Govt. of India who spoke on the importance of Bio-diversity conservation preserving the flora and fauna of India. The Commerce Association inaugural was followed up with many events and a valedictory function on 12th March 2008. Prof.E.Sankaralingam, Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education, Chennai Zone was the Guest of Honour. The Corporate Secretary Ship Association, “Eugenics” was inaugurated by Mr. Bala sundaram, Manager of Secretarial Dept., and L&T., who delivered a lecture on career development in corporate field.

University Results:

Consistently, the college pass percentage gets  higher year by year and far exceeds  the University pass percentage. 
I am happy to announce that there are Two First Rank holders in the University Examinations  this year. J. Saravanan has secured  the First Rank for B.A. (Econ).  K. Umamaheshwari of Defence Studies is the First Rank holder for Hindi at the University level.  26 University ranks have been obtained by the students in various disciplines.  Congratulations to all of them. 

Research Projects:

The total  number of recognized guides are 20. 

I am proud to state that a total of 29 Doctorates have been produced by the college.  At present, there are  30 candidates pursuing their Ph.D., Degree.

Dr. K. P. Sanjayan of Zoology Dept.   has published 8 papers and   Dr. M.G. Ragunathan and Dr. J. Jayanthi of Zoology Dept. have 4 papers to their credit. Dr. Marlene Morais, Dr. M.V. Arulalan, Dr.P.A. Sathyanarayana  and Dr. Avvai Kothai of the Commerce Dept. and Dr. S. Anand of Economics Dept. have been regularly publishing research papers in leading journals. Dr. Sanjayan and Dr.V.P. Nedunzheliyan are the recipients of UGC Research grants.

Dr. Jayanthi, is a proud recipient of young scientist  Fellowship  and at present she is undergoing special training at Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore. Dr. S. Natarajan of Plant Biology Dept has a Chapter to his credit in a reference book titled “Microbial Biotechnology”  Dr. K. Manikandan of Defence Studies Dept. written a chapter in edited volume titled “Human Security in Canadian Foreign policy.

Retiring Staff:

This year 4 Staff  are retiring.  Dr. T. G. Joseph, H.O.D. of English,     Prof. S.P. Thavamani, H.O.D. of Physics,  Prof. Sarasukutty, Reader     in Chemistry and Dr.R. Vasudevan, Physical Director, after a  long innings of more than 3 decades are retiring this year.  We may get Substitutes in their positions, but they surely cannot be replaced. We wish them all the best in their retired life. 

STUDENTS COUNCIL AND WOMEN STUDENTS FORUM

Elections for the Students Council were held in Aug. 2007 in a most disciplined manner.  Student representatives for the post of Chairman, General Secretary and Gen. Sec. (Women) were elected.

The Students’ Council activities are successfully guided by Dr. M. Selvaraj, Vice President, Students’ Council.  The Women’s Student Forum is taken care of by Dr. K. Lakshminarayani, Staff Advisor.

Extra-curricular Activities:

As usual the sports and games and other Extra-curricular activities were organized excellently this year too under the banner of NSS, NCC – Army and Air wings, YRC, Rotaract, Students Council, Women Students Forum, Placement Cell and the Sports Council.  I must especially appreciate the efforts of all those in-charge of these activities : Dr. S. Jayakumar, Prof. K.G. Sanjeevibabu, Dr. M. Murthy and Prof. B. Kumaran for NSS, Dr. I. Baburathinam and Dr. G. Rajendran  for NCC. DR. M.V. Arulalan for YRC, Dr. M. Selvaraj and Dr. S.V. Ragavan for Students Council,  Prof. Praveen Prakash for Fine Arts, Dr. K. Lakshminarayani for the Women Students forum, Mr. Ramasamy,  for the Placement Cell and Dr. R. Vasudevan for Sports.  I commend all the staff in charge and the student office bearers for their involvement, social concern and commitment to a common cause.  

I feel proud to announce that 15 students have represented Madras University and State of Tamil Nadu in various  Sports  and retains the Third position in the whole Madras University Arts and Science Colleges.  11 Students represented Tamil Nadu  State in Cricket,  Kho-kho, snooker, swimming and Kabaddi. Senthilkumar of I M.A (Econ) has been selected for Vizzi Trophy (South zone). 

NCC – Army wing: Sathyamuthu of III B.A. (Econ) attended Nation al Integration  camp  at  Jammu    and    Kashmir  representing Tamilnadu. S.Karthiga attended TSC camp at Delhi for one month representing Tamilnadu.

NCC  Airwing:  F/c K. Rajasekar of II B.A. (Econ), F/c G. Ganapathraman of II B.Sc (Phys) ,  F/c P. Harikrishnan of II B.Com represented Tamilnadu in the All India Vayusainik camp held at Bangalore  during Oct. 2007.  Sgt. Ganapathiram and G. Sandeep Kumar won Gold Medal at the  National level Inter-collegiate NCC Competitions. CWO D. Sudhir  Sidhu of II B.Com(Corp) represented Tamilnadu in the All India Basic and Advance Mountaineering Camp held at Manali, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkasi, respectively.

This year, the students have won over 200 prizes at inter-collegiate cultural competitions and several prizes at sports and games.  At the General Assembly held every Monday, these prizes are announced and the winners are congratulated by the Principal.

I am  happy to announce that this year about  65%  of our Final year students (404 to be precise) have already been placed and have also received their appointment orders from leading companies  such as Wipro, TCS,  CTS, HCL, HP, Ajubha, Sutherland, Ford, Slash Support, Mphasis, Synthes,  ITC, Optimus, Alsec, Patni Computers,  BASF, Biocon and Orchid Chemicals etc.  While on an average   70% of the students are  placed; in departments like M.Sc (Chemistry), the placement is 100%.

To improve the placement prospects of the students, among other efforts, three add-on  certificate courses – E Commerce, Banking and Risk Insurance approved by the UGC and University of Madras  are offered by the Dept. of Commerce and a certificate course in Advertising and Sales Promotion and Sales Management is offered by the Economics Dept.  Six of our students successfully completed 3 add-on courses concurrently  and the UGC has recommended to the Universities, the  award of Honours degree for those students who complete all the three courses. These  students are being honoured today.

Taking into account the need of the Industry, various soft skill programmes have been conducted for all the students, throughout the year. Each student has been given 24 hour session of soft skill programme.         

All these achievements were possible because of the commitment of all concerned, the Management, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff and the students.  I wish to specially thank the President, Secretary and Correspondent and other Members of the Management for their wholehearted support, encouragement and advise on all matters pertaining to the administration of the College. 

I pledge to work zealously with the support of all sections concerned towards taking the College to greater heights.