Courtesy TISS

IT all began with social work. So working in the field is something that comes naturally to any TISSian. Its MA programme is one of the few in the country, where students spend two days in a week working in a firm or an organisation.
 
It’s a strictly unpaid job and students rotate across companies. “We plunge into real life from Day 1,” a student shares. By the third semester, mutual affinity leads to a host of pre-placement offers.

Professor Sasmita Palo, Chairperson, Placements, informs us that 40 percent of students get placed thanks to this industry experience. Being located in Mumbai, as well as its pedigree, also prove advantageous.

Academics
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) owes its origin to the vision of Dr. Clifford Manshardt, a leading social scientist, in the early ’30s. And that has resulted in the institution enhancing and diversifying the issues and areas it is concerned with over the years. With schools in habitat studies, management and labour, rural development, social work and health system, it encompasses most pressing issues of the day. Entry is exceptionally tough and the course work is tougher still. The school goes to extraordinary lengths to even out differences. All students take the core courses together and residential halls are common. 

Research
As of now, research is concentrated on the labour side of the HRM discipline owing to its social work roots with respect to the management school. “We need to beef up knowledge production in the mainstream discipline,” says a faculty member. But then, their intellectual output in the labour studies domain is path breaking, especially on employment and employability. Other schools too do a lot of commissioned studies and independent research. TISS has one of the best citation indices amongst standalone social science institutions in the country.

Life on campus
Operating at the cusp between social sciences and specefic issues like Disaster Managment and science policy, respect for difference in opinion is a fact of life in the instititute. Culture  too is a lived experience here. A certain research flavour permeates the campus. The need to know and to probe, are visible in many students and the faculty.

“We do tend to develop a research bone,” concurs a student. “At times much to the chagrin of our employers, we are prone to the analysis-paralysis syndrome,” she chuckles. Branding is a major issue with the students. The school is notoriously media shy, and the alumni interface needs a lot more work. The institute needs to work on both these areas in the coming years.

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