Dr. Soma Sen Gupta is a Professor in Commerce at Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi. She has teaching experience of more than 25 years. She has done her Ph.D. form the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She has published two books and several research papers in eminent Journals. She has presented her work in prestigious conferences held in India and abroad, like, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Trichy, RGS Cardiff, AAG Washington, and others. She is a globetrotter and has traveled to 25 countries. She is an aspiring and hard-working person who is ready to accept challenges and upgrade with new technologies.

Kamla Nehru College Delhi

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“By enforcing the environment of mutual trust and respect”

I believe that maintaining a cordial relation with the students is imperative for a gainful teaching-learning experience for the student as well as for the teacher. In order to do that I do follow the principles of empathy and honesty because these two are the core pillars for building a healthy relationship with anyone. I create an environment of mutual trust, be it in classrooms or outside so that the students remain honest while answering or discussing their problems. Moreover, thinking from their viewpoint is also important to understand their mood and pressures, and mould the lecture and discussions accordingly. Regarding my fellow faculties, I try to solve any opinions of difference with talks instead of indulging in false allegations and remain trustworthy for them.

How do you strategize and update the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

“We update it as per changing demands which we get via workshops and University guidelines”

The syllabus is very vast and heavy, it becomes a bit difficult sometimes to strategize and update it in a complete manner. So for that purpose, I divide the syllabus month-wise and make a teaching plan in advance on a monthly basis. I use real-life examples, case studies, discussions of news articles, latest developments in related areas, in my classes to effectively strengthen my student's concepts about the subject. If I talk about updating of the curriculum, our college is affiliated with the University of Delhi, hence University guidelines are automatically accommodated into it. While implementing the new curriculum, workshops are arranged for different subjects by the Department of Commerce, which are well attended by the faculty members.

How does your department prepare students for higher education and placements?

“Through training programs and workshops in partnership with leading industry experts”

In my viewpoint, the worth of an institution for higher education also depends upon its placement statistics. Fortunately, the students from our department (being the Commerce department) get a better chance of being absorbed through campus placement and the placement cell of our college is doing a wonderful job. And for this, we support them with various kinds of training programs and mock interview sessions. About preparing them for higher education, so besides classroom guidance, consultancy, and informal career counselling, time-to-time people from academics and professional fields, Civil Services coaching and CAT coaching centers interact with the students and guide them. 

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What extracurricular activities are organized in college to enhance the skills of students?

“We support them every kind of learning opportunity through internships and professional visits”

We organize different events and talks to enhance the skills of our students, like internships, workshops on Tally, GST, E-security, workshop on research methodology, advertising, and public relations. Along with this, an intercollege commerce festival with programs like an inaugural lecture, quiz, ad-mad, business plan, bidding workshops is organized by us. Our placement cell contributes actively to this by arranging sessions for students on resume writing, interviews and group discussion skills. Factory visit is organized annually for our final year students to get first-hand knowledge of working of a factory and organization.

What are the challenges you are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“Lack of infrastructure, students interest and Innovative ideas”

There are different kinds of hurdles in front of situations, some arise due to students and some by their own methodologies of working. Nowadays, students are only interested in scoring good grades by wrote-learning rather than putting out-of-the-box ideas on the table. Next, in government-funded colleges, the infrastructure does not support modern methods of teaching like a basic PPT presentation. Also, there is hardly and scope for innovative learning due to old education policies and rules. Collaborative learning and sharing of knowledge between different departments and different institutions is not there.

How does your college enhance the skills of the faculty and prepare them as per the industry standards?

“We upgrade them through Faculty Development Programs”

In order to enhance the skills of our faculties, they are encouraged to attend Faculty Development Programmes which are organized by the University and different institutions on topics that are current and worthwhile for upgrading the knowledge of teachers of a different discipline. We regularly conduct meetings to take follow-up of the training they attend and provide our input if required.

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Any valuable advice would you like to give to the students for a prosperous career ahead?

“Choose the right learning path for you and just stick to it”

I will advise my students to upgrade their knowledge, slog and slog, since these are the best years of learning, acquiring valuable degrees and increasing your prospect in the job market. Select the right goal according to your capability and interest and strive towards achieving it, wholeheartedly. Be aware, read more, acquire more knowledge, and use the knowledge at the appropriate place.