Promoted in 1956 with the objective of providing higher education to women in post-independence India, Lady Shri Ram College is widely acclaimed as India’s finest all-women’s college for liberal arts education

The year-long golden jubilee celebrations of Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), widely acclaimed as India’s finest all-women’s college for liberal arts education, which began in July last year will culminate next month in a gala ceremony felicitating 50 of its most illustrious alumnae. A high-powered panel is currently finalising the awards list from a roll call which includes Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi; Naina Lal Kidwai, chief executive of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (India); Sushma Berlia (first woman president of PHDCC); Vimla Mehra (joint commissioner of Delhi Police); Lillette Dubey (actress); Nonita Lall Qureshi (Arjuna awardee golfer); and Nidhi Razdan (New Delhi Television anchor), among others who have distinguished themselves in business, academics, sports and social work.

Promoted in 1956 with the objective of providing higher education to women in post-independence India by the late Lala Shri Ram, public-spirited chairman of the DCM group of companies, in a school building in Daryaganj with 243 students, nine faculty members and three study programmes, LSR has come a long way since. Sited in the heart of south Delhi on a compact 15-acre campus, LSR today boasts an enroll-ment of 2,000 students pursuing 16 study programmes, mentored by 150 faculty. In June 2005 it was ranked as India’s No. 1 liberal arts college by the Delhi-based news weekly India Today.

Since their commencement last July, the golden jubilee celebrations have featured special seminars, guest lectures, workshops, paper presentations and symposia on a diverse range of subjects, in addition to film, performing arts, sports and theatre festivals. A distinguishing feature of these events is that they combine academic focus with extra-curricular achievement a characteristic reflective of LSR’s larger objective of dispensing holistic education and shaping women leaders.

“LSR is recognised as an institution of higher education which nurtures intellectual development coupled with vibrant extra-curricular activity, outreach initiatives and civic engagement. An LSR education enables women to reconcile excellence with humanity, to celebrate diversity and redefine notions of success. Our focus is on liberating women to look beyond traditional horizons. Our students are made to understand that with the power of knowledge, comes the responsibility to translate it into creative citizenship. LSR students are empowered with professional competence, ability to assume positions of leadership with ease, and shatter inhibitory glass ceilings,” says Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, an alumna of LSR and University of Massachusetts and incumbent principal of Lady Shri Ram. She is also the founder director of WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace) and member of several multi-track peace initiatives in Kashmir and Pakistan.

According to Gopinath, LSR is an exclusively liberal arts college, i.e it doesn’t offer science related study programmes. Currently its academic menu includes 16 undergraduate and postgrad programmes in the social sciences, humanities and commerce. In addition, it offers a B.Sc. programme in statistics and professional (diploma) courses in journalism and elementary education. A two-year diploma in conflict transfor-mation and peace-building is a new study programme open to undergrad and graduate students, NGO workers, media persons and grassroots workers. Moreover several short-term certificate courses in art appreciation, women and politics, communication skills, language courses in French, Russian and Spanish are also offered at LSR.

Spread over 15 acres of prime real estate in south Delhi, despite the embarassingly modest tuition fees it demands of students, LSR boasts contemporary infrastructure including a newly refurbished, computerised user- friendly library with internet access and 98,000 books, 5,000 bound volumes and audio-visual cassettes; arguably the best student’s cafetaria in Delhi University and a counselling and placement cell. Sports training in chess, table tennis, lawn tennis, basketball, golf, volleyball besides martial arts and judo is also available. For out-of-town students, the immaculate LSR campus houses a residence for 300 women students with an in-house library and dispensary.

With 22 varied societies, the college provides students numerous opportunities to develop their creative talent and life skills. Apart from music, dance, debating and dramatics, LSR hosts student societies such as Prakriti (environmental awareness), Abhaya (women’s development cell), Dhyana (society for consciousness and awareness), and WUS (World University Service). An annual festival, Tarang, is a cultural blancmange of the performing, visual and literary arts. The variety of events and diversity of participants makes Tarang one of the most celebrated college festivals of Delhi University.

In keeping with the temper of the globalising Indian economy, the LSR management has taken the lead in developing international academic linkages. It has student and faculty exchange partnerships with several foreign universities including La Trobe University, Australia and Brown University and Smith College in the US. Under these accords, students from La Trobe and Brown universities are given credits for studying at LSR and vice versa. An exchange of young scholars with the National University of Singapore is under negotiation and the college’s department of English has a faculty exchange programme with Kenyon College, USA under the aegis of the Fulbright Alumna Initiative.

“A journey well begun, has infinite potential to evolve further, setting newer standards of excellence. Our vision is to see that LSR finds its rightful place in the landscape of international education. All our efforts will be towards realising what we feel are attainable and in some sense inevitable goals,” says Gopinath. 

Admission and fees

Admission into the undergraduate study programmes is based on aggregate marks obtained in Plus Two. In the case of English, journalism and elementary education, an entrance test is held. Number of admission seats available annually are 700.

Undergrad programmes (BA). Commerce, economics, English, Hindi, history, maths, statistics, philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology.

Professional courses. Journalism, elementary education, conflict transformation and peace building 

Postgraduate programmes. Commerce, English, Hindi, history, mathematics, philosophy, political science, and psychology

Annual tuition fees. Rs.6,200-9,300

Residential fee. Rs.22,000 per annum

For further details contact the Principal, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi; Ph: 011 26460400; e-mail: website: www.lsrcollege.org.

Autar Nehru (Delhi)