What began as a humble endeavour with just two teachers and twenty-four students has today snowballed into one mammoth journey called The Oxford Educational Institutions. Ensconced in the tranquil surroundings of HSR Layout is the tall building of Oxford College.

This group of institutions was established in 1974, and it continues to develop and evolve in its role of providing world class education with its colleges at three locations in Bangalore  —  College of Engineering at Bommanahalli, College of Dental and Pharmacy at J P Nagar, and College of Business Management, Science and Fashion Designing at HSR Layout.

Academics

The college offers a wide array of undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the fields of arts, science and commerce, and students have a wide option to choose from - law, journalism, business management, fashion and apparel designing, dental, pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, engineering, information technology, hotel management, and so on.

The faculty for the above mentioned courses is well qualified and experienced. As it stands today, the student strength has crossed the 15,000 mark while the staff strength has crossed the 2,500 mark.

All the courses offered by this group of institutions are affiliated to Bangalore University, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Health Sciences and Vishweshvaraya Technological University. The Children’s Education Society, which is the apex body, aims to make the Oxford group of institutions a premier educational institution engaged in equipping individuals to be tech smart and competent with a good value system.

Technology parameters

The campus is loaded with facilities that students can immensely benefit from. The campus houses a vast library that is well-stocked with recent books and publications, both for academics and pleasure reading. With a spacious and well-lit reading room, the place provides all the materials needed for extensive learning and research by students. Besides this, the computer centre, equipped with internet connectivity, provides help to all students with regard to their technical queries.

These centres are manned by experts from the field of IT and computers who provide continuous assistance to students. Taking the use of technology one step forward, all the classrooms in the campus are equipped with digital boards and Wi-Fi connectivity, making learning much more interesting and simple.

As a step to make students more accountable to teachers as well as their parents, the campus has an innovative software in place called the Identizon or the Smart Campus that keeps track of every student who enters the college premises. This works when students swipe the ID card at a kiosk near the entrance and is very useful to monitor the attendance, biometrics and internal marks of students. This technology also keeps parents informed about the activities of their wards.

The institution provides accommodation facilities to students through its hostels located at Bommanahalli and J P Nagar. The hostel, separate for boys and girls, can accommodate 3,500- 4,000 students, and is a home away from home for students with hygienic food and comfortable lodging. Transportation facilities are also provided to hostel residents.

Collaborations

The college was named the 5th best college in the field of science by India Today and the 3rd best in India by Bio Spectrum. It also has the credit of figuring in the list of the top 10 best finishing schools in Karnataka for its endeavour in providing quality education; it has also received a grant of Rs 1 crore by the state government for the same. The college has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Bosch for Rs 3.6 crore for the development of the college of engineering at Bommanahalli.

Extracurricular activities
Along with workshops conducted on topics related to subjects that students specialise in, the college hosts various seminars that help students in widening their perspective and knowledge.
The college, in its effort to contribute to the overall development of students, offers many recreational clubs and associations that students can be a part of. The Entrepreneurship Development Cell, Community Development Cell and Behavioural Cell are just a few among the many clubs in the college.
The Community Development Cell was started with the aim of promoting social awareness among students and through this cell, students conduct many social activities like eye care camps, blood donation camps, NSS camps, waste management programmes, AIDS awareness initiatives, etc.
The college also offers financial assistance in the form of scholarships and fee concessions to students who come from humble backgrounds. An extension counter of a nationalised bank also operates within the campus for the convenience of students.

Placement cell
With a view to help students become employable, the college recently inked a tie-up with the recruitment firm Envision Talent Management, which launched India’s first initiative in ‘Precision Management,’ through a seminar on ‘Corporate Challenges in Employability Skills’ in which representatives of companies and management consulting firms sought to address the heads of institutions and students on attitudes, knowledge and skills required to succeed in the modern competitive environment.