Social responsibility is one of the recent concept in the
arena of corporate management. Corporates are increasingly
realizing the importance of managing the business processes
to produce an overall positive impact on society. This is
done by way of continuing commitment of business to behave
ethically and contribute to economic growth keeping in mind
the quality of life of the workforce and their families as
well as the local community and society at large. Social responsibility
of any business lies on capacity building for sustainable
livelihoods. It respects cultural differences and finds the
business opportunities in building the skills of employees,
the community and the government. With this is mind SFIMAR
has taken certain initiatives to organize management students
in various social responsibility issues and give them a feel
of the grassroots and unfortunates and also make the students
to do something worthwhile for the underprivileged lot. To
strengthen these efforts of management students SFIMAR Social
Forum has been formed.
SEVALAYA:
First major project taken by the Social Forum was in SEVALAYA-Vicenta
Maria Social Service Society, Borivli, Mumbai. SEVALAYA is
run by sisters mainly for training girls for household jobs.
Our management students specializing in Human Resources as
a part of their curriculum to develop human resources at the
grassroots, took initiative to train these young girls in
some of the basic skills like - etiquettes, self presentation,
time management, personality grooming, enhancing self efficacy
etc. For the effective implementation, students prepared a
training calendar which was spread over a period of 3 months
from September to November 2004. Students have shown total
commitment and dedication in the whole program and were highly
appreciated by the sisters and the young trainee girls. Our
students have generated funds for helping an ailing girl of
Sevalaya as a part of her medical expenses.
BLOOD DONATION CAMP:
SFIMAR Social Forum also organized a Blood donation camp on
19th March 2005. It was organized jointly with Holy Spirit
Hospital, Andheri, Mumbai. Students in large numbers participated
and donated blood for the needy and ailing patients. Students
from all St.Francis Institutions - SFIT, SFIDD, and SFITI
& SFIMAR contributed for the noble cause.
Social Forum also makes occasional visits to some NGOs from
time to time to spend sometime with the needy and the unfortunates
in order to make them happy with certain cultural activities.
This is organized on the days like 15th August or 26th January
every year. Students have made visits to PREMSANGH - home
for street children and some of the community projects in
Dharavi slums in Mumbai.
Main objective of SFIMAR in these initiatives is to mould
the management students to be responsive human beings in their
enterprising management endeavors in future.
FLOOD RELIEF WORK:
On 26th of July, 2005, Mumbai and its suburb were devastated
with the heaviest rainfalls in the last century. The city
witnessed a record-breaking rainfall of 944 mm., which caused
severe water logging. This affected the life in Mumbai and
caused a loss of both property and lives. With the aim of
helping our fellow mumbaikars and their families the Congregation
of Franciscan Brothers of Mt. Poinsur decided to provide relief.
This task was assigned to the SFIMAR management. A social
service cell was formed and they went out on a survey of low-lying
areas of Dahisar - Ravalpada, Koknipada, Ghatanpada. The congregation
allocated Rs. 2 Lacs, the staff and students donated Rs. 20,000/-.
Various items provided to each family were presented in a
large jute bag. Our Chairman, faculty and students undertook
the distribution of the above relief on August 12th, 2005.
STUDENT'S ACTIVITES
The institute encourages continuous exchange of information between the industry and the institute. Extramural lectures are conducted on a regular basis by outstanding practitioners from the industry on cotemporary topics and emerging problems and issues. To make the learning more practical for all relevant subjects online projects or week end projects are arranged in the industry. The institute gives a lot of emphasis for the summer work and its quality will be very relevant in rating the students scholastic achievement. During the projects the students involvement with practical problems will demand them to interact with important personalities in industrial and public life. This paves the way to invite them for seminars and panel discussions arranged by them in the institute. The students are encouraged to start local chapters of professional societies to interact closely with professional bodies. The institute has close ties and memberships in societies like IIPE, IIIE, IIMM, BMA, IMC etc. They are also encouraged to take part in competitions conducted by such professional bodies and bodies promoting quality of education at large. The institute promotes a number of networking initiatives. Students are encouraged to take part in them for their overall benefit. The literary, cultural and sports activities in the campus are to be developed and promoted by the initiatives of the students. As more students join the campus these activities will gain momentum. The students are to formulate and peruse co curricular activities with an objective of developing their innate capabilities to sharpen their skills in getting things done and enhancing their leadership abilities. These efforts are encouraged through activities like inter institute competitions including national or local participatory academic events or cultural events. Many such programs with the initiatives of the students are on the anvil.
There are various career clubs, hobby clubs, interest groups and forums encouraged among the students with the right focus. They work in various modes to achieve their final objectives. Students take active part in the campus life through extra curricular activities, social events, community development work and campus events. All the activities are to be conducted with primary involvement from the students.
ALUMNI
The institute has strong Alumni Association networking
with the institute and its ex-students. The institute offers
certain facilities to the Alumni for keeping in touch and
upgrading their skills.
