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हिन्दी
Introduction
Lady Irwin College is a constituent college for women, in the University of Delhi, under the memorandum of Association of The Lady Irwin College Society vide Regd. Society Registration Act 1860 (Punjab Amdmt.) 1957 Registration No.4163 (1969-70) & maintained by the Governing Body & UGC Grants. Lady Irwin College is a premiere institution affiliated to University of Delhi for Undergraduate and Postgraduate education in Home Science. It also supports doctoral programs in five areas of Home Science. Other programmes are two year B.Ed. (for students of Home Science), B.Ed. Special Education MR (for students from all streams) and one year Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics & Public Health Nutrition.
It aims for holistic development of women students, and their capacity building through carefully designed academic programmes and extramural activities.
The Lady Irwin College aphorism is VIDYA HI SEWA. The teaching learning transactions true to the motto Endeavour to inculcate a sense of knowledge to serve through carefully designed outreach experiences.
The College has always provided headship to other institutions in the nation in teaching, research and extension in Home Science, both at central universities and Home Science colleges with agricultural institutions.
Lady Irwin College has celebrated 83 years in 2015.The education in this college aims towards capacity building for entrepreneurship, improved quality of life and overall development of the students. It is a nodal and template institution for Home Science education in the country.
The academic disciplines in the college are artistic, creative, culturally rooted and contemporary. The programmes are scientifically planned which include education in textile technology, food processing, metabolism, environment, sustainable technologies, food safety, health and disease and human development. The focus of college is to have holistic education for the all round development of the students.
High standard of education is maintained in pedagogical strategies and course structuring by the faculty members. The curriculum is internationally competitive. The college hopes to improve the talent and nurture creativity among its students for playing positive role in the society.
Brief History
From a modest beginning with 11 students in 1932, Lady Irwin College has provided higher education for generations of women. Well into the ninth decade, the college now has over 1300 students on its records every year. From the initial teaching of a Certificate Course in Home Science, the courses have multiplied, keeping in tune with the times and the changing trends in higher education.
The college has an illustrious ancestry. It was established under the patronage of Lady Dorothy Irwin, by men and women concerned with national issues and the education of women. Among them were the Maharanis of Baroda and Bhopal, Sarojini Naidu, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Annie Besant, Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, Margaret Cousins and Sir Ganga Ram Kaula to name a few. The college has been a template for over 200 colleges and schools offering the discipline of Home Science in India and neighboring countries, providing guidance in development of curricula, programmes and infrastructure.The buildings of the college campus have been classified and protected as heritage sites.
The college was run under the aegis of All India Women’s Education Fund Association till 1950. It was then affiliated to the University of Delhi and a B.Sc. Home Science degree course was introduced. The college started receiving financial assistance from the University Grants Commission and is continuing to do so. In 1969, the Lady Irwin College Society (Regd.) was established, commensurate with the requirements of University of Delhi to serve as the Governing Body of the college.
Over the years, the college has added bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and facilities for community outreach programmes, inter-college and international exchanges and networking, workshops and seminars, public events, sports and recreation. Since its inception, the staff and students of the college provide research advice and community extension services in nutrition, resource management, human development, and textiles and clothing.
Strives to inculcate the spirit of service along with professional development and skills for women empowerment through state of the art education, research and extension by nurturing innovation, leadership and national development.
Lady Irwin College has been a pioneer in women’s education. Set up more than eight decades ago, the vision for empowering women continues to be the key thrust of the College. It is indeed a matter of pride for us that the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi gave us our motto Vidhya Hi Sewa (service through knowledge). True to the motto, our educational endeavour has been to inculcate the spirit of service along with professional growth of students. The college remains committed to building leadership, conscious citizenry and active participation of women for furthering national developmental goals. The college encourages the development of scientific temper with special focus on individual, family and community life. The education in the college aims towards developing creative and critical thinking, nurturing innovation and excellence. Lady Irwin sees its students building capacity to acquire global skills for entrepreneurship, professional proficiency and improved quality of life.
Eminent national and international leaders helped envision Lady Irwin College goals and the role it could play in the field of higher education for women. They built strong foundations based on core values of social justice, veracity, service and sustainability for achieving excellence in all spheres of life. These have continued to guide and contour the curricular and co-curricular thrusts of the college through the decades.
Since its inception, Lady Irwin College, has been a flag-bearing institute for Home Science education in the country, both at the school and college level and has always provided leadership to other institutions across the country. The knowledge, innovations, tenets and thrusts provided by the college over the years have percolated to put Home Science as a discipline on the academic map of India.
The college faculty has consistently strived to contemporize its academic content through innovative research, strong community outreach and implementation of new technological knowledge in the field of Home Science. Every department of the college, along with developing core discipline specific skills among the students, also addresses larger societal issues like health, gender, conservation of textile heritage, socio-economic inequalities, community mobilization, people’s participation, resource utilization, environment and education.
The curriculum helps young women students develop key life skills for their future professional and societal roles. Their experiences at college are designed to facilitate self-development and nurture them so that they become aware, active and enthusiastic members of the community and the nation at large. In a nutshell, through curricular and co-curricular activities at both UG and PG levels, we strive to:
- Accomplish training and development of young women for professional employment
- Generate an appreciation and respect for our cultural heritage and traditions with a critical orientation towards social and economic advancement
- Undertake training of trainers and educators
- Develop research and critical analysis skills for analyzing and suggesting national development strategies
- Strengthen linkages with other teaching and research institutions and professionals at all levels
- Give impetus to community outreach and extension
The courses at Lady Irwin strive to build a cadre of professionals:
- Focusing specifically on issues, programmes and policies of health and well-being of children, women and families
- Nutrition, dietetics, food processing, food safety and security
- Heritage textiles, textile technology and apparel design
- Early childhood care and education, parenting, family counselling
- Education of children in formal and non-formal settings, including persons with disabilities
- Sustainable management of resources and new product development
- Communication for development, participatory communications and innovative media development