Campus

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The Land

The college campus occupies an area of approximately 175 acres (70 hectares) near the village of Paud in the Taluka Mulshi region of Maharastra, India. It is roughly 40km from the city of Pune (about 100km south-east of Bombay), at approximately 18°32'29"N, 73°35'09"E. From its vantage point on a hill overlooking the Mula River near the Mulshi hydroelectric dam, the surrounding villages and fields in the valleys and the steep hills of the Western Ghats provide a striking rural setting.

The College has started a project to create a biodiversity reserve from much of the open land on campus. Its policy is to encourage environmental protection and to foster awareness for one's surroundings.

Architecture

The buildings themselves are purpose-built to accommodate about 220 students and 25 faculty throughout the nine-month academic year. The combination of modern architecture with local materials and a sensitivity to its impact on the environment was given a BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Award in 2000 and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2001. You can read more about the architect, Christopher Benninger, and the MUWCI project (with pictures!) here and here.

The College has a backup electricity generator and water treatment plant, ensuring a constant power supply and clean drinking water at all times.

Residential

The residential area is divided into four 'wadas', and each wada has 10 to 11 houses and a common room. The houses each have two rooms housing four students each, with two bathrooms, toilets, and store rooms. Most faculty also live in the wadas in houses slightly separated from the students. The wada common room is the wada meeting point and has a cooking stove, refrigerator, microwave, oven, and washing machines, plus a dryer during the monsoon.

The College also has a well-equipped two-ward medical center that is able to deal with all basic injuries and medical problems. It is staffed on a 24-hour basis by a team of a residential doctor and nurses, and has an ambulance in case of emergencies that the on-campus facilities are unable to appropriately treat.

The college cafeteria serves good blend of the international and Indian cusines. It serves three main meals per day and various Indian snacks with chai at breaks. The cafeteria staff serves Indian, non-Indian, vegetarian as well as non vegetarian dishes.

Sports facilities include a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, volleyball, football and cricket fields, and a small gymnasium, which cater for the various sports interests the community members have. There is also a playground for young children of the faculty.

The campus has a Social Centre near the pool with a coffee shop, pool table, table tennis table and a television set &endash; it is an informal gathering place for all students. The campus also has a student-run store called "The Dukaan" (A hindi word meaning 'shop').

Academic

The science laboratories for Physics, Biology, Chemistry and for general purposes serve well the practical oriented method of studying the sciences for science students.

The IT centre contains over 15 computers running Windows. All are connected to the internet and have MS Office installed for academic work. Wireless access to the internet is available as well in various areas of campus such as the wada common rooms, the classrooms area (AQ) and the library. The college also has a well-equipped art studio and a music center. The library has over 10,000 volumes in various languages covering a variety of topics.