UNIVERSITY COLLEGE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM KERALA. Physical Facilities.

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1 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM KERALA Physical Facilities

2 PREFACE One of the oldest educational institutions in the country itself, the University College is established in a sprawling campus, right in the middle of the city. Situated on the arterial road of the city, with all the major offices such as the University of Kerala, the AG's office, and the Secretariat within a half-kilometer radius, the college has the added advantage of being easily accessed by road and rail. The college takes care to keep astride the latest in infrastructural developments, amenities and technological facilities are always given prime priority while taking up maintenance/expansion activities. More than a hundred classrooms, laboratories for the science departments, general and departmental libraries, well-furnished staff rooms, seminar halls, auditoriums, playgrounds, canteen and parking area are all there to supplement the academic activities in the campus. The University College campus is located on both sides of the MG Road. The main block consists of the office complex and all the departments except Malayalam, Hindi and Sanskrit. These three departments are located in the Oriental block, on the other side of the road. The entire campus is situated in an area of acres with a total built up area of sq.mtr, richly endowed with old, huge trees, protecting the campus from the traffic pollution that surrounds it. INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES The following infrastructural facilities embellish the academic and non-academic transactions in the college: 101 class rooms of varying sizes can be found in the huge Victorian buildings and in new constructs. All the departments have ICT enabled smart classrooms, with smart boards, LCD projectors and other multimedia devices. Each class room has sufficient number furniture and are well-lit, properly ventilated, and are provided with lights, fans and power sockets. New three storied Research & Development Centre has been completed, and will be functional in the near future. The faculty of the 23 departments are accommodated in 34 staff rooms, with several departments having multiple staff-rooms. The rooms are all well-furnished and neatly maintained, and the teachers are provided with ample ICT facilities. 1 P a g e

3 There are 24 science department laboratories, 4 research labs and 3 computer labs. Science departments have well equipped labs with modern facilities which are enabled with latest technology and are updated periodically according to the innovations in the respective disciplines. In addition to the Science labs, almost all the departments have their own computer labs to cater to the needs of research scholars, PG and MPhil students. Adequate IT infrastructure has been setup in all the departments. There is a General library of the college which hoards approximately one lakh books, comprising rare and old editions as well as the latest books. The general library hosts a separate reading area. There are 23 department libraries, all of them with thousands of academic and general books which cater to the needs of the students. The Online Education & Research Centre (OERC) with 40 Computers and accessories, maintained by the college, is hugely beneficial for the students for pursuing their research and academic interests. It helps them immensely in the preparation and drafting of their projects and assignments, and also for seminar presentations. Attached to the OERC is the photocopying facility, maintained by the PTA, which enables the copying, printing and binding of projects and notes for the students and the faculty. The administrative block contains 3 spacious office rooms, separated into cubicles for separate sections, well-equipped with computers connected with LAN having internet facility and other facilities such as photocopying machines, scanners, printers and fax machine. The spacious Principal s chamber is fully furnished, has separate computer, printer and scanner. The numerous paintings that adorn the walls of the chamber, including a couple of original Raja Ravi Varma painting, bring in the charm of old world. The monitors of the CCTV cameras are in the Principal's chamber. There is also the Vice Principal s Room which also serves as Examination Centre. The Store Room in the office is utilized for safekeeping of old files and documents. Separate rooms are provided to Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Civil service coaching centre, NSS and NCC. There are four major seminar Halls with a seating capacity of 120 each with good acoustics. In connection with the Centenary celebrations, a Centenary auditorium with a seating capacity of 230, and an Open Air Auditorium, was built. The auditoriums are many a times used on 2 P a g e

4 holidays and weekends to organize various programmes, both cultural and academic activities for the surrounding community. The Edusat centre is set up for facilitating live classes and using on-line materials. The department of Botany maintains a Botanical Garden, rich with rare varieties of plant species including medicinal plants and old trees. Separate Museums are maintained by the departments of Zoology and Geology, which boasts of numerous unique and rare specimens which dates back several centuries. The Herbarium maintained by the department of Botany also showcases several unique specimens from plant kingdom. Department of Geography installed the Geographical Information System (GIS) of ArcGIS 10.4 latest version in the Geospatial lab. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database. The system provides an infrastructure for making maps and geographic information available throughout an organization, across a community, and openly on the Web. A Canteen of 1500 sq. ft. with adequate infrastructure and separate spaces to serve 80 students and 25 staff, is available within the premises. The amenities provided take care of the essential needs of students. These include 20 toilets for staff and 40 toilets for students. Two-storied ladies amenities centre houses adequate number of bathrooms and other sanitation facilities such as sanitary napkin vendor and incinerator. There is also an automated She-toilet facility for the ladies in the campus, helpful and useful for visitors as well. The front portion of the campus has a vast Playground comprising a Volley ball court, a Basketball court, a Hand ball court, a Ball badminton court, Archery board and 2 Cricket nets. The sports facilities of the college including Gymnasium are used daily by the students for practice under the close monitoring of the department of Physical Education. There is a separate transformer for the college. Underground electrical cables are used in the campus, even crossing the road and connecting the Oriental Block. A separate server room maintains all optic fiber cable connections and internet with the aid of two dedicated firewalls. There are Power back-up generators and UPS. 3 P a g e

5 IQAC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Keeping in tune with the preserving of Environment and green practices, facilities for Rain water harvesting are also taken up by the college. There is a separate room for Student Union activities. The college has made systematic efforts in upgrading its infrastructure facilities. It has a ten year infrastructural perspective plan made by IQAC. The institution has a policy of need-based augmentation of infrastructural facilities as a catalyst for ensuring academic excellence. The policy is chalked out by the College council by taking feedback from the staff and the students. The policy also ensures maximum utilization of resources to deliver the best possible values. The main highlights of the infrastructural maintenance and monitoring are as follows: Regular maintenance of the buildings and the periodic renovation of departments Infrastructure monitoring and renovation by the PTA Installation of Close circuit cameras at strategic areas Appointment of Security personal Up-gradation of Networking and computerization. Maintenance of plastic free campus Maintaining separate waste bins for organic and other waste at key locations to ensure clean campus. Installation of water purifiers / coolers wherever necessary. 4 P a g e