About Us
About Us
St. Mira’s College is an integral part of the Mira Movement in Education; it was founded in 1962 by the visionary philosopher-saint Sadhu T.L.Vaswani as the first college set up exclusively for women in Pune.
Our patron saint is Saint Mira, who epitomizes Bhakti, Indian values, the courage of conviction and rebellion for the right. Our spiritual Guru, mentor and the inspiration behind all efforts of the college is the revered Dada J.P.Vaswani. The motto of the college– ‘Kindle the Light’, indicates our commitment to impart to students the spirit of simplicity and service, purity and prayer. The Mission Statement of the college– To empower and equip women students through an integrated education of the Head, Hand and Heart, to successfully meet the challenges of competitive work life and inculcate in them the Art of True Living. Eminent citizens, well versed in academics, with strong leanings toward social issues and student welfare, grace the managing committee of the college.
St. Mira’s college distinguishes itself as a unique and proactive temple of learning. Our exclusive identity lies in the inclusive education that we offer to all kinds of women students – those with special needs, the differently abled, first-generation learners as well as students coming to us from different parts of the country and abroad. In our 55 years of academic service, we have steadily grown from a small college to a robust institution which has found a place in the academic map of the country with many firsts to our credit- we were the first college under the University of Pune to volunteer for NAAC; the first college in Pune to be awarded a 5 star rating; the first college to be declared the Best College in Pune by our affiliating University; the First Arts / Commerce College in Maharashtra to take the fast track to academic autonomy and to go on to become one of the few colleges in the country to be honoured with the CPE Status twice.
With justifiable pride, we wish to inform you that in the recent NAAC Reaccreditation process in March 2017, the college has earned an ‘A’ grade once more with a commendable score of 3.41 on a scale of 4. The prestigious India Today in its annual survey of the best three colleges in the city has, in its May 2017 issue, awarded the first position to the Arts and Science streams of St. Mira’s and the second position to its Commerce Stream. Recently, The Knowledge Reviewmagazine rated St Mira’s one of “The Best Private Institutes in India, November 2018”. This is an annual listing that acknowledges innovative and diverse educational procedures while preparing students to excel in various professional fields.
Our Patron Saint
The name Saint Mira is synonymous with nobility, wisdom, Indian culture, courage, purity, service, sacrifice and above all, pure love.
She was an advocate of the true freedom for women, which grows out of the love of god and service of the poor. With one strong sweep of her soul, she rose heroically to break the fetters of Indian womanhood. Mira flowered from a rebel into a Saint.
She asserted her will, vindicated her dignity as a woman, only to surrender her will to the Lord, providing a luminous example of “OUR wills are ours to make them Thine!” It is for these very qualities that Sadhu Vaswani named his experiment in education after this saint of Indian history.
The Mira Movement is, in effect, aimed at the empowerment of women, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. It testifies to the adage: educate a man, and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you enlighten a whole family.
Vision and Mission
Vision
To grow into a Centre of Excellence providing quality education and empowering women to take their place in society.
Mission
To empower and equip women students through an integrated education of the head, hand and heart, to successfully meet the challenges of a competitive work life and inculcate in them the art of true living.
St. Mira's college established in 1962 was one of the pioneering colleges set up exclusively for girls in this part of the country. The college along with the other institutions was inspired by the faith that, in the new unfolding of India's destiny, women have to play an important part. Sadhu Vaswani often said: "The woman-soul will lead us upward, on!" The College was located at that time in the Sadhu Vaswani Mission premises.
Milestones
1962 : The College was first granted permission for the Bachelor of Arts by the University of Pune in the year 1962.
1964 : The permission to start the Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Pune came in the year 1964.
1981 : The Mira's College had a new address. The College was shifted to a new premise, the present location in the year 1981.
1983 : The University of Pune granted permission for the Post Graduate Department of Commerce. This is one of the oldest PG departments of the college.
1984 : The Home Science Department began its operations with a one-year course.
1986 : The College had its Silver Jubilee Celebrations. It was marked by the visit of the Prime Minister Late Rajiv Gandhi
1991 : The University of Pune granted permission for the Post Graduate Department of Sociology.
2002 :
- The University of Pune granted permission for the Post Graduate Department of English.
- Received the NAAC accreditation. St. Mira's College was the first College in Pune to complete the Assessment for NAAC Accreditation
- The University of Pune awarded the Best College Award to St. Mira's College for the year 2002
- The permission to start Junior College science came in the year 2002.
2004 :
- The University of Pune granted permission for the Post Graduate Department of Economics.
- St. Mira's College has been awarded as the College with Potential for Excellence by the UGC (2004)
2005 : The permission to start BBA course came in the year 2005
2007 :
- The first Arts and Commerce college to be granted Autonomy. St. Mira's College was granted academic autonomy for conducting the BA and BCom courses by the University of Pune and the UGC.
- The permission to start BBA(CA) course came in the year 2007
2008 : Visit of the President of India, Honourable Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. Laying of the foundation stone of the Sadhu Vaswani Institute of Management Studies (SVIMS).
2010 : St. Mira’s College has been awarded as the College with Potential for Excellence by the UGC for the Second Time in 2010
2012 : Reaccredited with 'A' Grade by NAAC for the second time. NAAC score 3.03
2013 : The College celebrated its Golden Jubilee Year (1962-2012). Extension granted for Academic Autonomy (2013).
2017 : Reaccredited with 'A' Grade by NAAC for the third time. NAAC score 3.41
2018 : The permission to start M.Sc.(CS) Course came in year 2018
About College
St. Mira’s College is a part of the "Mira Movement in Education" Founded in the year 1962, St. Mira’s is a dream realization of the progressive, visionary, saint, philosopher Sadhu T. L. Vaswani. Eminent citizens, well versed in academics, with strong leanings toward social issues and student welfare, grace the managing committee of the college.
Proactivity and progression are the hallmark features of the college – this is easily evidenced in the fact that the college enjoys the rare honour of being the first city college, affiliated to Pune University, to be accredited by NAAC as also the first accredited Arts and Commerce College to go autonomous. This milestone easily distinguishes us on the educational firmament. The college is a well-acclaimed institution for degree courses with an outstanding record of high academic results, well-placed alumni, accountability, well-established self-correcting mechanisms, and healthy practices.
Our Founder
The Sadhu Vaswani Mission is a world-renowned humanitarian service organization with an international presence across four continents.
Founded originally in Hyderabad-Sind before the partition of India as the Brotherhood Association, it was renamed after its revered founder, Sadhu Vaswani. When the Sindhi community was forced to leave Pakistan, Sadhu Vaswani chose to make Pune his headquarters, and from here the Mission and its activities have grown by quantum leaps.
Today, the Sadhu Vaswani Mission is a non-sectarian institution which believes in the unity of all religions and reveres the Great Ones of all faiths. The Mission serves all sections of society with no attention to caste, creed or community. Its service activities today embrace several spheres that influence people’s lives - social, educational, medical, environmental and spiritual. Sadhu Vaswani Mission is registered under Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 in Pune with the Pune Charity Commissioner Office.
The Sadhu Vaswani Mission runs its educational activities under the brand name 'Mira'. It has to its credit Mira schools in Pune, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. St. Mira's College [Arts, Commerce, and Science] is a well-known temple of learning committed to the education of character and competence building.
The Missions educational activities are devoted exclusively to empower women thus paving way for a significant change in the social fabric of the country.
The objectives of the Trust are:
The primary objective is to spread the message of Brotherhood, Unity, and Harmony. Other Objectives that flow from the Primary objective are:
To promote cultural and spiritual development by starting centres of training in concentration, character building, and social service.
To provide triple training of Head, Hand, and Heart through education in Arts, Fine Arts, Commerce and Management Science, Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Home Science, Teachers Training, Law, Veterinary and other areas of education to meet the need of the time.
To serve the poor and sick irrespective of caste, colour or creed.
Imparting high-quality value-based education was an ideal very close to our Revered Founder, Sadhu Vaswani. A distinguished scholar and professor, Sadhu Vaswani was the Principal of more than one college in North India, before he envisioned his concept of MIRA education which would aim at the empowerment of women through a triple training of the head, the hand and the heart. A great philosopher and modern-day saint, he put into practice the ideal of gender-equality long before the term feminism was even heard of.
His spiritual heir and disciple, Dada J.P. Vaswani was among the foremost meritorious alumni of D.J. College, Sind, which offered him a fellowship as soon as he had completed his graduation. A distinguished research scholar, his M.Sc. dissertation on ‘The Scattering of X-Rays through Solids’ was assessed by the Nobel Laureate, Sir C.V. Raman.
Dada J.P. Vaswani served as the Principal of St. Mira's College during its formative years to ensure that the institution abided by the high values that the Founder had set for it. Dada believes that modern education should sharpen the brain without hardening the heart of the student.
In 1933, Sadhu Vaswani founded the Mira Movement in Education in Sind. Born out of the vision of a philosopher saint, the Mira Movement aimed at the empowerment of women through the right type of education, for Sadhu Vaswani was a visionary who believed deeply in woman power and woman-spirit, long before feminism was even thought of. He founded the Mira School in Sind in 1932, and the model institution was all set to evolve into a Mira University when the partition of the sub-continent forced him and his band of devoted workers to leave their homeland, Sind, and migrate to Maharashtra in independent India. The State of Maharashtra with its glorious history of culture and liberalism provided a fertile ground for the Mira Movement to take new roots. The Mira Schools and College were set up in quick succession.
St. Mira’s college established in 1962 was one of the pioneering colleges set up exclusively for girls in this part of the country. These institutions were inspired by the faith that, in the new unfolding of India's destiny, women have to play an important part. Sadhu Vaswani often said: "The woman-soul will lead us upward, on!"
Today, the college is veritably the jewel in the crown of the prestigious and exclusive MIRA Family of fifteen institutions located across India in New Delhi, Baroda, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. These include no less than three International schools in New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, as well as the Sadhu Vaswani College of Nursing and SVIMS in Pune. The MIRA Movement’s headquarters is located in Pune, and the institutions flourish under an enlightened and supportive management headed by none other than Dada J.P. Vaswani, a world-renowned spiritual leader and messenger of India's spiritual heritage. Dr. Gulshan H. Gidwani, Principal of St. MIRA's College, is the Director of the MIRA Education Board, which oversees the functioning of all the MIRA institutions across the country.
Our Sister Institutions under the aegis of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission
- St Mira's Primary School, Pune
- St Mira's Secondary School, Pune
- Sadhu Vaswani College of Nursing, Pune
- Sadhu Vaswani Institute of Management Studies, Pune
- Sadhu Vaswani School, Baroda
- Sadhu Vaswani School, Rajkot
- Sadhu Vaswani School, Ahmedabad
- Sadhu Vaswani School, Adipur
- Sadhu Vaswani International School, Delhi
- Sadhu Vaswani International School, Bombay
- Sadhu Vaswani International School, Hyderabad
Management/Board
Founded originally in Hyderabad-Sind before the partition of India as a Brotherhood Association, it was renamed after its revered founder, Sadhu Vaswani.
Board Members
Mrs. R.A. Vaswani, Chairperson, Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Ms. Krishna Kumari Thadani, Working Chairperson, Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Dr. Ms. G.H. Gidwani,Director, Mira Education
Ms. N. T. Jotwani, Member
Mrs. Aruna Jethwani, Member
Ms. Piya Uttamchandani, Member
Dr. Basant Ahuja, Member
Dr. Manju Nichani Rector, Sadhu Vaswani Institutes of Learning
Dr. Jaya Rajagopalan, Principal Incharge
The objectives of the Trust are:
The primary objective is to spread the message of “Brotherhood, Unity and Harmony.”
Other Objectives that flow from the Primary objective are:
- To promote cultural and spiritual development by starting centres of training in concentration, character building and social service.
- To provide triple training of head, hand and heart through education in Arts, Fine Arts, Commerce and Management Science, Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Home Science, Teachers Training, Law, Veterinary and other areas of education to meet the need of the time.
- To serve the poor and sick irrespective of caste, colour or creed.
In 1933, Sadhu Vaswani founded the Mira Movement in Education in Sind. Born out of the vision of a philosopher saint, the Mira Movement aimed at the empowerment of women through the right type of education, for Sadhu Vaswani was a visionary who believed deeply in woman power and woman-spirit, long before feminism was even thought of.
He founded the Mira School in Sind in 1932, and the model institution was all set to evolve into a Mira University when the partition of the sub-continent forced him and his band of devoted workers to leave their homeland, Sind, and migrate to Maharashtra in independent India. The State of Maharashtra with its glorious history of culture and liberalism provided a fertile ground for the Mira Movement to take new roots. The Mira Schools and College were set up in quick succession.
Sadhu Vaswani Mission is registered under Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 in Pune with the Pune Charity Commissioner Office.
Principal-Incharge