On the right course

Speaking more about it,the HOD of the Computer Sciences Department SC Shirwarkar says,“I joined the department in 1988 when the course format had an all India entrance exam for the students to get admitted to it. The first batch of 50 students that joined the course were mostly from states outside Maharashtra. Even the course itself was based on Procedure Oriented Languages,like PASCAL and C.”

Incidentally,it was a turning phase in the software industry itself as the students were immediately absorbed into companies like Wipro,Patni,Infosys,and the like. An interesting aspect about the course is the fact that even now it remains different from other BSc courses. “Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it includes other foundational subjects like mathematics and electronics so that students have an overall idea about the field. Also,we usually work in tandem with the industry requirements so that we are aware of the same and mould our students accordingly,” Shiwarkar adds.

However one cannot deny the fact that the course itself has seen a sea of changes. “Most importantly,changing the operating systems from DOS to Linux and going open source to ensure that students can also develop programs are the benchmarks of the course,” points out Professor Charudutt Nimkar,who has been associated with the course since 1987. The course was also renamed to BSc Computer Sciences and the entrance exam was dropped. This resulted in a huge influx of local students. “The popularity and success of the course can be attributed to the management of the college and the faculty of this department. They have contributed in university and college level activities including restructuring the syllabus from time-to-time to keep pace with emerging technologies,forming industry-academia linkages for placing students in industries,organising faculty training workshops for skill enhancement and creating study material for students in the form of text books and lab manuals,” adds Poonam Ponde,associate professor at the college. Incidentally she has been a course student at the college and is now working there too.

To celebrate 25 years of the existence of this course and the Computer Science department,there is a Silver Jubilee inaugural function organised today. “The function aims to acknowledge the contribution of people and bring together all those who have been associated with this course. In addition,we will also have a lot of symposiums,national seminars and alumni meets in the coming months. What is amazing is the fact that we have students who have become professors here and their students have also gone on to become lecturers here,which in effect means that we have a huge family of people working here,” says Shirwarkar.

The function will be presided over by RK Shevgaonkar,vice chancellor of the University of Pune,along with Vivek Sawant,MD of MKCL,Dr VB Gaikwad,dean of the science faculty of Pune University,university officials,faculty from various colleges in Pune,Nashik and Ahmednagar and professionals from IT companies. It will be held at the Wadia College Assembly Hall,4 pm onwards.