Management quota

"How many of us know that there is a college of commerce and management in Bombay which provides free education to Parsi students?” enquires community activitist Marzban Giara referring to the Patuck-Gala College of Commerce and Management. Parsiana though has over the years been featuring the activities of the Patuck Polytechnic Trust that has under its dynamic trustee-director Prof Rusi K. Mody been steadily expanding its education­al scope. The last time Parsiana wrote on this institute was in our Events and Personalities column (see "Promising Polytechnic,” May 2002) when the proposed College was awaiting affiliation to the Bombay University. The three-year-old College situated at Vakola, one kilometer from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Domestic Airport off the Western Express Highway reportedly has only two Parsi students presently availing of the facilities there.

Standing on a four-acre plot the College (photo on page 16) shares its campus space with seven other educational institutions managed by the Patuck Polytechnic Trust, established in 1932. While the Patuck Technical High School has been in existence since 1945, the expansion program began since 1981 when the Patuck Industrial Training Centre was launched after which came the Junior College (science, vocational and commerce), Patuck Pre-Primary School and Patuck Primary English School, Yesh-wantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Study Centre for diploma course in engineering, S. K. Gala Info-tech Centre and eventually the Patuck-Gala College of Commerce and Management.

Patuck-Gala College with Rustomji Patuck (inset)

On the organizing board in addition to Mody is the chair­man Adil J. Patuck who has taken over from Dr R. B. M. Colah who is now the chairman emeritus, honorary secretary J. J. Goiporia and administrator K. G. K. Kurup. At the Patuck Utsav at the open air auditorium on their complex which is graced by eminent per­sonalities in the fields of science, education and politics, all the institutes jointly commemorate the founder’s day. Each day’s events invariably starts with the garlanding of the portrait of the founder Rustomji Hormusji Patuck, a merchant prince turned technical educationist. Groomed at the Manchester College of Technology, on his return to India he chose to popularize voca­tional education. Rustomba, as he was popularly known to his close associates, started the Modern Industrial School in Gujara­ti medium in 1934 to impart technical and vocational training in weaving and carpentry. Starting with eight students in hired premises he served as the founder principal, chief instructor and caretaker all rolled into one. The Trust was established by him with a corpus of nine lakh rupees.

Presently over 3,500 students avail of the integrated educational facilities (from KG to PG — kindergarten to postgrad­uation) starting with the Patuck Play School. The vocational stream of Junior College has eight optional courses: accounting and auditing; auto-engineering technician; building maintenance; electronics technology; maintenance and repair of electrical domestic appliances; mechanical technology; medical laboratory technician, and tourism and travel techniques. While the Patuck-Gala College affiliated to the University of Mumbai offers BCom and BMS (bachelor of management studies) courses, they hope to introduce MMS (master of management studies) and law college studies in the near future. As notes the prospectus of the three-year degree course, "We aim at shaping the changing business scenario and the urge to go global.”