Value Education – Woven into Student Career and Human Development

Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education is perceived by parents, alumni, employers and the community at large as a premier women university in the country imparting value-systems to all students as scripted in the Institute’s Vision. Value based education in Avinashilingam Institute is imparted through a three-step approach, namely (i) Cognitive level to sensitize students on the positivity of values (ii) Affection level by nurturing positive values/attitudes amongst students through teaching of formal curricular, co-curricular courses and in research along with modern and scientific methods to develop and empower women students; (iii) Action level by engaging students in practicing positive values and attitudes through experiencial learning and extension activities.

Value Inculcation Methods:

• Curriculum-based teaching-learning: 121 value added credit-based courses were offered to students during the past 5 years. The salient courses were Ethical Thinking, Anti-Corruption, School Psychology, Cyber Crime, Indian Sign Language, Human Rights & Issues, Gender Education, Kovil Kalaigal and Nutrition & Physical Fitness. As an institutional norm, all the students have undergone atleast one value education course.On an average, about 3500 students participate voluntarily in more than one value-added course which imparted moral, ethical, social, environmental, professional, and human values. 
• Extra-curricular activities:  All students choose to join NCC or NSS and Sports is provided to all students without any discrimination. Such extra-curricular activities focus on the affective domain whereby students develop positive attitudes, feelings, emotions towards life. Camps, field activities, competitions, and other activities helps in internalizing the value concepts among students. 
• Institutional Practices: Certain practices followed for decades in the institute, such as merit-based admissions for students from socio-economically disadvantageous groups, morning prayers, khadi sarees during functions, modest dress code inside campus,ecofriendliness, respect towards elders, empathy towards differently abled, self-discipline, inclusiveness, diversity, and others create a sense of belongingness and adherence to institutional rules and regulations among students. 
• Field-based Research with societal impact: Students at all levels are encouraged to address grassroots-level issues at the local and national fronts ranging from poverty alleviation to malnutrition and other day to day societal themes as topics of research. The institute provides right ambience for students in undertaking such projects/research work with all necessary out-reach and lab resources. This enables students to contribute significantly to societal development. 
• Community-based value-system inculcation: This represents the action level of value education. The students serve the nearby community through NCC/CSS/NSS/Clubs and departmental activities. There are about 26 adopted villages to which the students extend their services like tree plantation, health awareness campaigns, Swatchtaa/ Unnath Bharath Abhyan programmes etc., These beyond the campus extension activities enables students to understand the real-life situations and how their contributions could make a big impact in the quality of life of a common man. 
• Alumni and institutional bondage: There are about 6000 alumni on roll spread across several regions and 30 countries. Regular connect with alumni instills a sense of accountability and responsibility towards their alma meter. Alumni are treated with care  and affection who in turn support the institute in various ways as panelist for events; examiners; motivational speakers; recruitment, contributors for infrastructure development and by promoting the national and international visibility of the university. 
• Students’ representation in committees, Student’s Council and Club Activities: With core value of imparting managerial skills as experiential learning, students are members in various committees like BOS, IQAC, Anti-Ragging, Internal Complaints Cell etc., The democratic way of elected Students Council, 15 active student clubs provide ample opportunities to share their skills, knowledge and attitude by students and evolve as responsible citizens with positive behavior
• Celebrations, Events and Competitions: Students are oriented towards constitutional obligations through conduct and participation in 46 national and international commemorative days annually. Students actively participate in all events of the institute such as Founder’s Day, birth and death anniversaries of founders and great leaders. Cultural events, exhibitions and competitions conducted on various themes like Cultural Convergence, Unity in Diversity, Environment Protection and alike help in imparting value education in an informal way. 
• Value education through dedicated centers: Centers namely Ambedkar studies, Gandhian studies, Swami Jagatmananda Centre for Value education, Centre for Arts, Culture and Heritage have been promoting specific values propagated by value leaders by conducting educational courses, events and activities every year.

Outcomes: The fruits of value education offered by the institution are not just witnessed among students during the period of study but also extends to their professional, personal, and holistic life. The following are proud evidences of the distinctive feature of the institute – value based education: 

a) Tangible :

• Graduates from the institute are serving the nation in bureaucratic positions namely IAS, IPS, IRS. 
• Alumni of the institute are placed in responsible positions namely Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Managing Director, Scientist, CEOs, Chartered Accountants, and Institution builders.
• Start-ups by our students in segments like food, gift articles, apparel designing, waste upcycling, herbal products, and industries such as Suguna Pumps, Rajashree Ford, GEM Hospitals, SKM Animal Feeds & Foods India Limited, iSolve Technologies stand as testimonial for value-based women empowerment imparted by the Institute.
• Alumni sponsored construction of Jubilee Arch and other infrastructure support by alumni are evidence of bondage to the Alma Mater.
• Deemed University status by Government of India with a special note on community service activities of the institute.

b) Intangible : A survey was conducted among passed out students to understand the impact of value and culture-based education provided by the institute. 615 alumni have responded to the survey collected via google forms. The detail of analysis is uploaded under any other  information.
The salient findings are that over 80% of the alumni projected that the ethics, culturalvalues, self-discipline, behavior of ethos, tolerance, spiritual values have shaped their career, family and communal harmony. To conclude, the institute as envisioned by the founder T.S. Avinashilingam Chettiar is gratified by its efforts and legacy in crafting women students with good human values and modesty.