St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, informally called as Xavier’s has witnessed 150 years of excellence. This Catholic Jesuit college was founded on 2nd January, 1869. The college is affiliated with the University of Mumbai and has seen innumerable students passing out, many of whom were seen in the 150th year celebration of the college. Some of the notable alumni of the institution include Ratanji Tata, Zakir Hussain and Shabana Azmi.
The college is located in the prime location of Mumbai, being about 10-minute walk from the ‘CSMT station‘ and 20-minute walk from the ‘Marine Lines‘ station. Along with ‘Metro’ cinema hall, various other refreshment sites can be found in vicinity of the college. A 10-minute drive through taxi takes you to ‘Crawford Market’ where you find ‘anything and everything’. Xavier’s has the facility of hostel for boys within the campus itself.
Courses
Xavier’s has both, Junior and Senior colleges within the same building, which is balanced by different timings for the various courses offered. The junior college has science and arts stream. The senior college additionally offers courses in commerce, information technology (IT), management studies and mass media. St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai believes in inclusive education and this has been achieved in a fully-fledged manner by the Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC).
The college offers undergraduate, postgraduate & PhD courses in Science and Arts. Xavier’s offers night college for Bachelor in Commerce (B.Com). Another course offered by the college is Vocational Studies. Admissions to Management Studies (BMS) & Mass Media (BMM) courses into the college are through entrance exams. The college also offers various certificate & diploma courses through different departments of the college.
Infrastructure
Xavier’s is known all over the country for its beautiful Gothic architecture, which has even been portrayed in many movies. The institution has numerous highlights, including the auditorium, college library and the terrace classrooms. The most peaceful place in the college is the college chapel. Over the years, these are the places where the students spend most of their time, apart from the college foyer.
The institute has a ‘Knowledge Centre’ and also computer labs adequate for the students present. The laboratories of various departments are equipped with up-to-date equipments and reagents. There are several research institutes within the college campus. The Caius laboratory is for Inter-Disciplinary Research. Blatter Herbarium in the Botany Department is remarkable for taxonomic studies and the Chemistry Department has Nadkarny-Sacasa Research Laboratory.
Not Just a College… It’s a Way of Life
The most important thing Xavier’s provides to all its students is ‘Exposure’. A student cannot only focus on academics to survive in the college.
In the first year of undergraduate degree itself, all the students get involved in ‘Social Involvement Programme’ (SIP). Each student has to work with an NGO for a specified number of hours. SIP also requires a student to gain specified number of hours through departmental activity.
Most of the courses are well-equipped with practicals as theoretical knowledge is incomplete without practical knowledge. Over the three years of graduation, each and every student of Xavier’s also needs to complete particular number of hours through extracurricular activities in college to attain ECC credits. The extracurricular activities include being a part of clubs in college and/or participating in seminars, workshops and fests. Malhar is the major inter-collegiate fest of the college, the other fests being Janfest, Paradigm among many more. The ‘Malhar Conclave’ invites inspirational figures to be a part of the fest and enlighten the audience. Xavier’s has also hosted Barack Obama and Dalai Lama in the years 2010 and 2013, respectively.
In the first week of December, the college celebrates ‘Traditional Day’ where each of the students let go off the various engagements for a day and enjoy to the fullest. The college also has active organisations namely, Social Service League (SSL) & All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF) and has never failed to extend help during times of difficulty. During Kerala floods, AICUF had successfully donated to the needy. Even during the situation of COVID-19, Xavier’s has come forward to set up 250-bed centre in the campus.
The University of Mumbai does not provide an option for ‘Honours’ degree, however, Xavier’s provides an opportunity for its students to go beyond academics and enroll into ‘Honours Programme’ where a student is expected to apply to various activities to gain hands-on experience in various techniques. If not enrolled in the ‘Honours Programme’, still departments have ongoing assignments, projects and trips for the students’ exposure. Xavier’s has villas in Khandala, where each department takes the students atleast once for a study trip.
The Xavier’s Institute of Communications (XIC) provides the students with opportunity for Students’ Exchange Programme for going to universities abroad during the three-year degree course in exchange of students coming to the institute from around the world. The college has been conducting the Harvard College in Asia Programme (HCAP) in the month of March since many years.
The institution provides students with opportunities for internships. The various departments as well as Xavier’s itself have magazines and newsletters. This acts as a medium for the students to express themselves and work on improving their capability. The ‘Xplore’ Journal of the college is presently listed in the UGC-CARE list.
Time to Leave
In the final year of degree, all the students are engaged with quite a few things, including completing honours & ECC hours and spending more & more time with friends simultaneously (along with studies). Most of the departments have a research project in the final year which helps the students to apply their three-year knowledge in the laboratory. Nobody gets a hold of when did they complete three years of their college already.
In the final year, the ‘Placement Cell’ provides the students, the opportunity to apply for numerous in-campus placements. Companies such as Deloitte, Zilingo and Cactus Communications come to the campus among others to hire the students.
February turns into an emotional month for most of the students. There is ‘class photo’ in graduation robes. And this is followed by farewell, both departmental and from college. Everyone is in nostalgia thinking of the three years in college.
One of my professors had correctly said in the initial days of college “You will change within these three years in Xavier’s and if you don’t, you’re not a Xavierite.”
And then comes the time when we set apart in hope to meet again, soon!
Fire Together Wire Together 