GENDER SENSIBILITY & SENSITIVITY INITIATIVES AT BIT MESRA

WE CALL IT…

SWAMPURNA

The Swampurna logo was designed by an all girls team of
the Department of Animation & Multimedia (Off Campus Noida) working on SWAMPURNA II

As a philanthropic STEM & M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Management) Institute, BIT Mesra’s rich legacy is striving for excellence through unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, responsible, proactive, holistic, and a state-of-the-art education ecosystem that is cut above all & every social discrimination, especially towards gender. This makes innovation and social responsibility integral to the institute’s ethos and culture making it many firsts both in academics and extracurricular activities. Thus, the nurturing of talent, providing a deserving platform to brilliance and developing futuristic learning frameworks for all who are deserving, has been a BIT credo.

Owing to this universal democratic philosophy of education, BIT, in its main campus at Mesra as well as the five Off Campuses, has been capable of structuring an enabling & dynamic environment that is also known for its prominent sensibility & sensitivity towards gender issues and challenges, since the very inception. Conformity to the national expectations, global best practices and the mandates of regulatory bodies like the UGC & AICTE, has prompted BIT to create the critical Internal Complaints Committees (ICC) headed & deliberated duly by very senior lady faculties. Such committees are also functional in the Off Campuses. ICC in BIT, on expected lines, has constantly been endeavoring & monitoring that not only the faculty but all employees & students of BIT Mesra participate in their daily activities in a free, fair and a secure environment, committed to nurturing leaders without bias or prejudice. In support of this, there are also the following committees:

• SCST Cell
• The Equal Opportunity Cell
• Grievance Redressal Cell
• Service Regularization Committee
• Entrepreneurship Development Cell

Within this overarching structure committed to excellence in academic pursuit & academic social responsibility, humanitarian spirit and morality, BIT, Mesra has always ensured that the voice of the shy & the delicate is not lost in the din of the strong and bold. In an enriching legacy of nearly six decades, deserving women have never failed to find their place of eminence whether as a meritorious scholar or a lead faculty.  It is here, that, BIT with is enriching tradition of unblemished philanthropy and a democratic notion of education looks upon the women in campus as its SWAMPURNA or the empowered women who are complete and uninhibited in their worldview, holistic in their vision, humane in spirit, dynamic in nature and indomitable in their pursuit of excellence to make a lasting difference at the global level. SWAMPURNA in BIT is a force to reckon with.

SWAMPURNA in ACADEMICS:

BIT, MESRA as a Progressive Institute and a forerunner in the STEM higher education in India, has always upheld a neutral, unprejudiced & a gender-bias free recruitment policy. Conforming to the national mandate and the basic framework of the Indian constitution, BIT, Mesra has discerningly contributed to the nation-building process by constantly maintaining an undisputed commitment to excellence in education & sensitivity to the issues and concerns of the minority communities stemming from its strong commitment to Academic Social Responsibility.  

Students enacted a nukkad natak on the theme of Swachh Bharat under guidance of teachers

Hence, at all possible times,  all faculty recruitment drives and admission of students in BIT, Mesra has welcomed women with open arms and ensured through rules, regulations, institutional convention & culture and an overarching systemic structure the safety, equal opportunity and the unstinted progress of all its women in campus in the essence of SWAMPURNA or perfection.

The following is the proud list of some of our outstanding women at the helm of academic affairs at Mesra & Off Campuses:

S.No.	Name	Designation	Image
1.	Prof. Padmini Padmanabhan	Dean Academics
2.	Prof. Nisha Gupta	Chair Internal Complaint Committee, Professor Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
3.	Prof. Asha Prasad	Director-in-charge, Off Campus BIT Noida
4.	Prof. Vandana Bhattacharya	Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
5.	Prof. Shraddha Shivani	Head Department of Management
6.	Dr. (Mrs). Vijaya Laxmi	Associate Dean Student’s Welfare

In our Off Campuses, the following are some of the Women Faculties who have led in recent times:

Noida Campus

BIT, Mesra with its unquenchable thirst for innovation and disruption; a rich legacy of technology and entrepreneurship; and a commitment to nurturing leaders who make a difference to the world is a natural safe abode for aspiring young girl students.

Our neutral, free and fair ambiance at Campuses helps in nurturing a positive and healthy balance at all levels. The ratio of female students registered in our STEM Departments consequently is favorable & impressive especially at our Masters, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programme.

Gender Statistics (2020)

We at BIT Mesra are very proud of our Gender data.

Ratio of Male & Female:

GENDER EXERCISES

In order to nurture the BIT, tradition and culture of gender neutrality, but remaining vigilant against the odd and the unacceptable, ICC at Mesra and the satellite campuses constantly organize workshops, trainings and awareness campaigns.

The various Departments at Mesra and the various Off Campuses regularly and independently organize such training sessions and guest lectures to sensitize the young students in the very impressionable stage in life.

 SWAMPURNA AT BIT OFF CAMPUS, NOIDA

In BIT Mesra, innovation & disruption have been key elements in the pursuit of excellence in a spectacular and satisfying journey of nearly six decades. The rich legacy of technology and entrepreneurial propensity has further made it a mission for BIT to address the unaddressed besides treading uncharted paths. This has given many firsts to BIT, especially in academics. First in India to have established a Department of Space Engineering & Rocketry as early as in 1964, and breaking forth to conceptualizing  a Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Park (STEP) in mid 1980s to harness and incubate nascent ideas, BIT, Mesra also, in a proactive initiative, was the first University in India  to begin a Degree program (both at the UG & PG level to be followed by a Doctoral program) in Animation & Multimedia as an UGC innovative program in 2005 at its Noida Campus followed by the Jaipur Campus. With inputs from the industry and pioneering institutes in related domains, like IIT-Bombay; NID, Ahmadabad; IIMC, New Delhi, among others, the innovative vibrancy enriched the nascent programme to the extent that, it has become possible to groom the Animation students in multiple emerging & mighty domains like film making, advocacy & behavior change communication, gamification, storytelling and social research and the like as part of their academic training. This broad panorama has allowed & provided a novel platform to the Animation & Multimedia students to survey, explore and experiment in critical social issues and come up with solutions that have often been critically acclaimed by exerts. Especially engaged in gender challenges in the Indian social system, the Department of Animation at the Noida Campus  has steadily worked in gender sensitization programme consciously baptized SWAMPURNA.

However, for the Animation & Multimedia students, for nearly a decade, through their rigorous training and instruction in Communication,   ‘SWAMPURNA’ has become a tool for outcome oriented intervention for social transformation by addressing women’s issues like Sanitation, (potable) Water, Menstrual Health & Hygiene, Physical Posture & Rehabilitation, Universal Immunization, Nutrition & (Related challenges like awareness of PoSH, economic empowerment and so on). The students at the UG, PG & Doctoral studies have extensively covered the JJ clusters (Slums) in the NCR region and have been evaluated for this with wide appreciation even by some officials from the WHO & other nodal agencies. In a similar approach, the MBA students for their compulsory Business Communication paper have participated in similar semester long Action Research addressing issues like Teen Pregnancy, Female Feticide etc with novel intervention tools like virtual games to induce behavior change in the target population. Interestingly, some outstanding placement recruitments too has  happened due to the very impressive work done by these student which appeared very novel and original to the recruiters.  Interestingly, the Department was also acclaimed even by global leaders like Kent State University, Ohio USA.

Prof. (Dr.) Todd Diacon, Provost, Kent State University, Ohio, USA and Prof. (Dr.) Marcello Fantoni, Associate Provost, OGE,Kent State University, Ohio, USA were the guests of honour at International Confrence on Emerging Multimedia for Social Equity and Empowerment organised at BIT Mesra Noida Campus on 16-17 March 2017

Some milestones in Gender Sensitization & Gender Initiatives (SWAMPURNA) at the Noida Campus

 It is since 2010 -12  that Gender Intervention as part of the Communication curriculum began in the Noida Campus. One of the first such academic intervention was at the MEWAT region by the research scholar Ms Shreya Chakraborty working on Development Communication & Social Work for Gender Issues.

Newspaper Clip : PhD awarded (2019) to Niket Mehta on the theme of Gaming a tool of new media communication. Female Feticide was the sub-theme of the thesis.

Another similar doctoral study on Female Feticide in Haryana too was undertaken, by Dr.Niket Mehta which was finally whetted & appreciated by Professors from the New York University. Simultaneously, a gender sensitization exercise was undertaken to cover the UG & PG students using the virtual game ‘LAADLI’.

Laadli: A digital game which creates awareness about female feoticide has been used in a longitudinal study by the researcher

Thereafter, with progressive experience and maturity in communication intervention, documentary films ‘Pragati mein Durgati’ (2016) made by the Animation students, ‘SWAMPURNA I’  a documentary film on Teen Pregnancy directed by Ms Neeti Kesarwani a student of the MBA programme was selected as one the Top 10 films in the students category in the India International science Film Festival (2016 &2017) at New Delhi & in Chennai respectively.

Pragati Mein Durgati team with then Director, BIT Noida

It is however in October 2018, at the Lucknow chapter of the India International Science Film Festival that SWAMPURNA II*   a short film Menstrual Health and Hygiene was awarded the coveted first prize in the students category. The film was made by an all girls team from the Department of Animation & Multimedia (Noida Campus).

Swampurna Team receiving first prize from Dr. Harsh Vardhan - Hon'ble Health Minister, Government  of India

But, apart from these award-winning gender intervention and exercises by the students, the Department of Animation and the MBA students for their communication curriculum has been involved in many such meaningful women centric action research in and around the NCR region which has certainly created a deep seated awareness and a sense of social responsibility in the young learners.