IMPRESSIONS from a Cross-section

Topic

What kind of Covid-relief activities were undertaken by you to support faculty and students?

Ensured payment of fee was least concern for students

Just like everything else, the education system of the country underwent a sea change during the pandemic affecting students and staff alike. Fibre2Fashion spoke to few fashion institutes about the support they provided to their students and faculty during these unforeseen times.

Antonio Maurizio Grioli
Dean, School of Fashion, Pearl Academy

COVID scholarships were announced for financial support, flexible and deferred fee payment options would be provided to the students on a case-to-case basis and there has been no impact on the registration response. All nonteaching staff has been retained and supported. Student attendance was captured on the LMS and shared on a weekly basis. Considering the students’ own account of impact during the pandemic, we kept our attendance rules relaxed.

Pearl Academy last year started and intensified its ‘We Care’ initiatives for the physical, mental, emotional, and financial well-being of its students. A 24x7 counselling helpline has been made available to them to address and alleviate issues related to stress or anxiety. An online live concert called “Life in Times of Lockdown” sharing funny, interesting and memorable moments of the lockdown and “Life is Beautiful” keeping the physical, mental and emotional fitness intact were organised. For these initiatives, Pearl Academy was awarded QS I Gauge award E-LEAD certified with a perfect score of 150/150.

MM Hundekar
Principal, MKSSS School of Fashion Technology, Pune

As per the directives of the university, there was no hike in fees. Instalments and additional scholarships were provided to needy students and there was no reduction of staff strength. The students’ emotional problems were handled with individual interaction. Various activities and seminars online were arranged by motivational experts on yoga, immunity, meditation, and stress management.

Suvidha Patil
Founder & Director, International Society of Fashion Technology

We faced lots of emotional tantrums from students—some faced family issues and some lost their jobs. We made it a point to be available for them and support them emotionally. We also organised motivational counselling sessions and played online games to encourage them. We initially reimbursed the staff salary for a few months and gradually cut down on the non-teaching staff, which was a tough decision. We also had to rework our rental agreements and came up with better and feasible options. We did not stop our students’ learning process even if they weren’t able to pay their balance fees.

Jewellyn Alvares
Head of Department, Whistling Woods International

While the fee structure did not undergo any major change, we ensured payment of fee was the least concern for the students and their parents. Unlike the pre-COVID scenario, we have not adhered to strict payment deadlines, enabling students or their parents to pay as and when feasible. Also, we have allowed part-payment, which was a support to the students.

The model by which WWI currently operates doesn’t require us to reduce staff strength. In fact, there were opportunities for tapping into added skillsets of the team to enhance the online learning experience.

We have a dedicated department of counselling professionals that students can reach out to, avail of any guidance, or even resort to for just a sympathetic ear to listen to their issues. Not just during the pandemic; this has been in place from before.

WWI has always treated all its members as family. The management has played a huge role in supporting and encouraging everyone associated with WWI, whether faculty or nonteaching staff. The institute has strived to pay the salaries on time, to ensure the staff members are able to manage their monthly expenses. In case of dire situations, the management and HR team have extended support to every staff, be it financially, emotionally, or mentally.

Solange Suri
Associate Dean, School of Fashion Design, ISDI School of Design & Innovation

Apart from having our own counsellor whom students can reach out to, our faculty too is regularly sensitised to mental health problems that students are facing now. We have always taken a learner centric approach and that has helped us to effectively enable our students navigate through these challenging times. Most of the non-teaching staff has been retained. We continue to pay our rentals.

Nealesh Dalal
Managing Trustee, JD Educational Trust

The institute has always valued the physical as well as mental and emotional well-being of its students. With the present condition affecting students, the institute has increased its emotional services to students. They are open to contacting these emotional support services and ask for help from designated staff/faculty when they require assistance. The institute has been able to manage problems of its non-teaching staff smoothly and has not faced any concern with regards to rentals or any other issues as they have all been receiving their salary on time without compromise.

This article was first published in the July 2021 edition of the print magazine.

Published on: 16/07/2021

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

Print this interview