Founded in 1949, Ranchi Women’s college has carved out a niche for itself in the world of higher education for women in social sciences/humanities, sciences and commerce. It is located in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. Jharkhand has recently been created by dividing the province of Bihar and is socially and economically backward and has a large proportion of tribal population which has not benefited from development in other parts of India. It is located in the capital city and in an urban area but caters to the needs of the nearby tribal areas as is reflected by the large number of tribal students. It aims to develop the all-round development of personality, bring out the latent qualities of the students and urge them to undertake creative activities. It also addresses the employment prospects of the girls and to achieve equal opportunity in society. Since most of their students come from lower strata of society the college intends to help them shape their inner and outer personality into confident, self-reliant, and emancipated persons without any inferiority complex or hesitation.

This college offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in addition to the intermediate (last two years of the School). It has a strength of about 10000 in all three streams right from Plus Two to Post Graduate Courses including 6 Vocational Courses and 01 B. Ed Course. The proportion of the scheduled tribe/caste students is nearly 23%. If we exclude the students of the intermediate programme then the enrolment is about 7000 students, of which 465 (9.2%) are enrolled for the post graduate programmes and 5067 (90.8 per cent) are enrolled for the undergraduate programmes. The proportion of students from the reserved categories is the higher (23.5 per cent) in the undergraduate programmes and the lower in the graduate (13.5%) programmes.

In its quest for excellence, it invited the National Assessment and Accreditation Council for evaluating the college and received a very good grade. It is preparing women students for the rapidly changing world of today and tomorrow. The college has attempted to keep itself updated in knowledge and skills by combining the traditional subjects in arts and sciences with vocational subjects in the emerging areas such as biotechnology, information technology etc. Since the traditional programmes in arts, science and commerce have more of knowledge content and less of skill content, it is enriched through classroom discussions, seminars, tutorials, project work, networking with NGOs and lectures/workshops by experts from India and abroad.

As recognition of its requirements for better infrastructure and buildings and its potential, the Department of Forests provided support for setting up a Herbal Park in the campus while the Ministry of Human Resource Development sanctioned Rs 16 million for building classrooms for science teaching.


Courses offered

It has 114 full time and 55 part time guest faculty members for teaching in the three faculties, namely, arts (which includes social sciences and humanities), science and commerce. There are 37 departments in the college. It offers 28 undergraduate courses (seven of which are self financing) and eight postgraduate courses of study. There are three hostels which accommodate 200 students. Nearly half the students in the hostels are from the reserved categories.
It offers bachelor’s programmes in humanities and social sciences, sciences and commerce along with BSc in Biotechnology, Computer Applications, Fashion Designing, Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, B.B.A. and Information Technology. The lastsix courses are self financing the tuition fee for which has been decided by the university and the provincial government. It also offers graduate programmes in zoology, botany, economics, political science, history, home science, Hindi and English. A unique contribution of the colleges is that it offers undergraduate programmes in six tribal/regional languages. The courses are introduced keeping the demand of these skills in the market because quite a few students need jobs and also the college wants that the women students should be able to compete in the market. B. Ed course is recognised by NCTE.



Academic honours

The students of this college are exceptionally good in academics and sports and games. For example, every year some of the top academic honours in different undergraduate programmes of Ranchi University are held by the students of this college. This college also boasts of hockey, badminton and yoga National champions. The hockey champions included the tribal students.


Equality of Opportunity

As per the constitutional requirement seats are reserved for different categories of students. The students of reserved categories are eligible for full fee waiver even in the self-financing courses. In addition, all the eligible SC/ST students get a stipend from the provincial government for books and other expenditures. The college Welfare Fund helps 7.5% students from its resources. In addition, the college invites and procures sponsorship for students from the Rotary club and some faculty members who provide Rs 2000 a year to needy students for continuing studies. From this year the college also introduced "earn while learn" scheme under which students are paid for helping in the official work. The college also started giving three weeks Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) Training to those students who needed financial assistance for pursuing education. The students (122) who were trained last year are able to work in the areas nearer home to sell the LIC policies which enables them to continue their studies or else they would have dropped out. They earn Rs 2000 to Rs 6000 per month. Every year the college also arranges a sale and exhibition of the handloom and handicraft items prepared by the students. Besides providing them economic returns it also inculcates a spirit of entrepreneurship.


Co-curricular/extra curricular activities

The college does not divide academics and co curricular activities into watertight compartments. It uses seminars, workshops, quizs, lectures/talks, on-site visits, and training to expose the students to current issues of a very wide range. Speakers and prominent experts are invited from India and abroad, from universities, international agencies and private organisations to give the students exposure to contemporary issues and problems. Thus, the modern issues are discussed and activities undertaken (such as public speaking, health awareness, skill building and protection of environment) in addition to traditional activities are debating, dramatics, art, publication of in-house magazines of departments, etc.

Students are also given exposure to what is happening in the wider academic world, for example, the students of biotechnology and teachers participated in the all India science Congress in 2002 at Lucknow. International women's Day was celebrated in the college and the chief guest was a woman police officer, DIG, an appropriate role model for young women.

The college principal is aware that the students have to be made career conscious and also given guidance. Therefore, career awareness and counselling is offered by experts in addition to workshops on preparation of UPSC and other all India competitive examinations. The college does not limit the after-college plans and possibilities to employment alone but also inculcates a spirit of entrepreneurship and self-employment. In addition, it has begun to identify training programmes which can provide income to the students while they are pursuing their studies. One of the notable programmes mentioned earlier is the LIC agents’ training programme.

They are also made aware of problems and issues specific to them, for example, the legal and police assistance to women and women's rights. Women's health (anaemia, osteoporosis, breast-feeding, mother and child care) and health in general (Aids, drug abuse and narcotics) is quite prominent. Some students also visit the Cheshire home and distribute clothes to the inmates thereby becoming aware of societal problems and how to make a contribution in ameliorating them. Environment and related issues are also on top of the extra curricular activities of the college. In addition, a spirit of adventure is inculcated through awareness program for trekking, mountaineering and rock climbing. There are several other areas which are covered such as different dimensions of education and human values. Thus, the students are being kept in touch with the latest developments and societal concerns. Outside exposure is very broad-based through a number of experts and the networking with the NGOs.