MCC in Today’s Newspapers
21st July 2025
#newspaper
Times of India & The Hindu
Two insightful news articles in today’s newspapers assume significance for the MCC community, for two unique reasons.
One is an article in today’s Times of India, that is highly appreciative of MCC’s move to make one internal assessment ‘ideation based’, with valuable inputs from our Principal Dr. Paul Wilson.
The other article is in today’s The Hindu, by our former Principal Dr. Alexander Jesudasan, that foregrounds a few salients on how Indian educational institutions can attract foreign students.
The article in Times of India –
To encourage arts and science students to come up with innovative ideas, Madras Christian College has decided to devote one of the internal assessments to assess the ability of students to ideate. Students can present their ideas at the open house conducted every semester at MCC-MRF Innovation Park in the presence of industry experts and domain specialists.
“Based on the evaluation of the experts, they can win an opportunity for receiving the seed fund to the tune of ₹1 lakh to validate their proof of concept. On the other hand, they can submit the evaluation in their department and get marks in place of one of the internal assessments,”
said Paul Wilson, principal of the college.
As part of the formative assessment, students have to give three internal assessments in a year.
“We are also thinking of giving an option for students to defer a semester to devote their time to the proof of concept or prototype towards venturing their startups while pursuing the degree programmes,” Wilson said.
It will not be considered as students having arrears. They will do internals and take semester exams one semester later.
Students can also take up innovation as one of the cocurricular activities during the programme. Students can devote up to 120 hours, like NCC and NSS, in a year.
The college is also conducting hackathons for students to shortlist potential ideas to incubate the innovation park.
“We are planning to conduct hackathons in medical tourism, functional foods, and waste recycling to select ideas to incubate at the innovation park,” said C Aarthi Ram, head, operations, MCC MRF Innovation Park.
Students can also directly walk into the innovation park with their ideas, and they will conduct crash courses for students to take their ideas to the next level.
MCC-MRF Innovation Park and TT Skills conducted a hackathon on logistics and supply chain.
Two student teams, Ruramed from MCC Boyd Tandon Business School and DROR Tech from MCC, were selected for incubation.
Three startups, FreshCon Agritech, Truckrr, and Ellan Tech, were also selected. These teams were awarded ₹1 lakh each,
says the article.
The second article in The Hindu goes thus –
In its 2022 notification, the University Grants Commission (UGC) encouraged the establishment of foreign universities in India and increased the number of seats in various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes by 25%.
The latter aims to enhance enrollment of foreign students in institutes of higher education in India. Further, the UGC has also asked institutions to adopt a smooth and simple admission process for international students based on the equivalence of entry qualifications.
In this situation, it is worth considering what can help attract foreign students to Indian varsities.
Strategies
The first involves strengthening our traditional arts and cultural studies with appropriate internships. Indian institutions should capitalise on the country’s history, culture and traditions by offering programmes and educational trips and exposure to the country’s diversity.
Another is the provision to appoint chair or research professors or professors of practice, especially with regard to indigenous technologies.
Foreign students can be offered internships in areas connected to local knowledge systems and the development of new products with the help of such specialists.
Thirdly, institutions need to upgrade the standard of hostels, as these vary depending on the institution. Attention must also be given to the creation of outdoor and indoor sports and recreation areas.
Fostering cultural exchange programmes is another way to attract foreign students to India. Apart from presenting various aspects of Indian regional cultures, institutions can also encourage foreign students to share details of the food, games, festivals from their own countries.
Finally, the most important part is scaling up the standard of higher education in our institutions, especially the course content and practical aspects of education. This will not only ensure that foreign students come to India but also encourage our students to stay back for higher education, research, and employment.
The writer is former Principal and Secretary, Madras Christian College, Chennai, and former Pro Vice-Chancellor, HITS, Chennai. Email alexjesu62@gmail.com
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