Prof. Niharika Singh is the Head of the B.Sc Department at Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. She has been associated with the Symbiosis School of Economics for the last two years. She has an overall 10 ten years of teaching experience at several universities across India. She has taught Microeconomics, Labour economics, Political Economy of India and History of Economic Thought at the B.Sc level. She has developed and introduced a couple of multidisciplinary courses, like, Labour economics and Gender economics for BSc at SSE. She guides both BSc and MSc students in their dissertation. She is also the faculty in charge of various clubs run at SSE by the students, namely Gender cell, LGBTQ+ cell, Samarpan club, and Institutional Social Responsibility(ISR).

Symbiosis School of Economics

What is the latest programme that you are offering in your institute?

“Unique electives offered in the B.Sc economics programme such as Finance and AI”

Symbiosis School of Economics has introduced a number of varied electives at the BSc (Economics) Programme. These include offering electives in finance and value-added courses on Artificial Intelligence. Further, there are also options available to choose between specializing either in higher quantitative analysis, higher finance or core economics theory. 

What are the factors that make this programme the best for the students to opt for?

“Integrated evaluation, value-added courses and experiential learning”

Our strength lies in our ever-evolving curriculum, a basket of interdisciplinary electives, blended learning and innovative assessment. We also promote semester-exchange programmes, floating credits (which is offered in semester 4, in the second year, of the three year programme), Internships, workshops, dissertations and projects.

What will you say the “best practices” in the programme you’re offering are? 

“The BSc programme offered is one of the most holistic programme offered in the country”

This course offers various alternatives that result in measurable outcomes in student progression. These include journal publication of dissertation thesis, ever-evolving pedagogy creating life research and soft skills.

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What are some valuable insights of the programme that you are offering?

“Courses make room for critical thinking, preparing the students for a diverse industry”

At SSE, the programme is disseminated through an innovative and engaging pedagogy. The academic journey prepares the students by enhancing their knowledge and skills and also inculcates sound values in them. 

Apart from learning the core theories, quantitative analysis and several industry ready software, our students also engage in experiential learning. These include visiting industries, stock exchanges, agriculture produce market committees, etc. Presently this gap is filled with shared experiences by academicians, varied stakeholders and experts from domain areas.

How does the programme ensure that students are being prepared for the future?

“We believe in preparing the students for employability at the local, national and global level”

At SSE, their cognitive abilities get nurtured with critical thinking for better decision making. Their varied skill sets are nurtured which goes a long way. Software programmes, workshops and ever evolving curriculum help them to adapt and become socially sensitized. 

How did you train yourself and faculty to deliver this programme to the students?

“FDP’s, expert interactions and focus on innovative teaching methods”

The Symbiosis International University creates a number of Faculty Development Programs (FDPs) bringing in educational experts, who provide deep insights into the new teaching methods. Further, faculty interactions, peer learning and deliberations help us adapt ourselves to learn. We also plan and implement new instructional activities that help us to meet the intended learner outcomes as per the teaching plan.

How do you tend to build an industry connection with this programme? 

“Industry internships and love projects for students connect with corporate world”

Students are exposed to the work culture of the industry through guest lectures by industry experts, corporate internships and industry based projects (Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives). This helps us build our engagements with the corporate and help us understand the skill sets that need to be incorporated in the student’s journey to prepare them for life beyond SSE. 

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What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this programme?

“Projects on issues in urban mobility, mental health during covid-19 and skill development”

Several important projects have been undertaken by the undergraduate students. These include waste resources of Pune city, studying the impact and assessment of SMART-Inclusive Vocational Training and Skill Development Programme and Higher Education: A look into the CSR involvement.