SCHOOLS AND CENTRES
The Tata Institute of Social Sciences currently hosts 5 Schools (each housing several centres), 4 Independent Centres, and 3 Resource Centres as indicated below.
Schools
The School of Health Systems Studies prepares students for managerial roles in the fields of health and hospital administration and carries out high quality social and policy research on a range of health issues with a view to support evidence-based national health policy and programme planning. The School is also involved in designing need-based health-related interventions and building capacities of health and allied professionals to promote and support research, action, advocacy and policy relevant work on health. It offers Master's programmes in Health Administration and Hospital Administration and a Diploma in Hospital Administration. It has 2 Centres:
• Centre for Health and Social Sciences
• Centre for Health, Policy, Planning and Management
The School of Management and Labour Studies has a mission to provide quality human service professionals for a variety of stakeholder groups in the development process. The School has diversified to develop innovative teaching and research programmes that address wider social issues and realities with a special emphasis on the marginalised and vulnerable groups. It offers M.A. programmes in Human Resources Management and Labour Relations (for over four decades known as M.A. in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations), Globalisation and Labour, and Social Entrepreneurship; and a Diploma in Personnel Management. It is involved in research and consultancy undertaken through its 4 Centres:
• Centre for Human Resources Management and Labour Relations;
• Centre for Labour Studies;
• Centre for Social Entrepreneurship; and
• Centre for Social and Organisational Leadership Development.
The School of Rural Development works towards promoting initiatives for sustainable, eco-friendly and equitable socioeconomic development of rural communities, with a focus on gender and caste justice. Growing out of the Institute's Rural Campus in Tuljapur, it has a Bachelor's Degree Programme in Social Work, with a specialisation in Rural Development (Hons.). It has introduced a Diploma programme in Sustainable Development for Ladakh to promote development initiatives in this remote area of India. It is organised along 3 Centres:
• Centre for Community Planning and Governance;
• Centre for Rural Livelihoods; and
• Centre for Social Development.
The School of Social Sciences has a special focus on strengthening the social sciences teaching and research base, with an inter-disciplinary perspective. The School has introduced two M.A. programmes, with contemporary relevance and significance: Development Studies and Education (Elementary). In order to undertake basic and cutting-edge social research to deal with a range of social, economic, cultural and political issues and processes, the School is organised to deal with several thematic areas through the creation of 6 Centres:
• Centre for Development Studies;
• Centre for Human Ecology;
• Centre for Socio-legal Studies and Human Rights;
• Centre for Studies in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies;
• Centre for Studies in the Sociology of Education; and
• Centre for Women's Studies.
The School of Social Work promotes education in social work that is democratic, emancipatory, and egalitarian and that develops a critical perspective in students. It offers a Master's programme in Social Work and a Certificate programmes in Rehabilitation Counselling and Social Welfare Administration. It also identifies new areas for social work practice and evolves innovative practice strategies through practice-based research and field action projects. Other thrust areas of the School are research, networking and liaisoning with governmental and non-governmental organisations for capacity-building, policy and programme development, and extension. It has 6 Centres:
• Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice;
• Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice;
• Centre for Equity for Women, Children and Families;
• Centre for Disability Studies and Action;
• Centre for Health and Mental Health; and
• Centre for Social Justice and Governance.
Independent Centres
The Centre for Lifelong Learning offers a two-semester (part-time) Certificate programme in Social Work to adult learners who wish to engage in professional or voluntary social work activities. The mission of the Centre is to work with all types of adult learners who, in turn, seek to work with the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of society. To this end, it conducts a range of outreach and short-term programmes for professionals, para-professionals and volunteers. The thematic contents of these programmes focus upon work-related needs as also self-growth and individual development. Apart from these open-enrolment programmes, the Centre also offers training courses in its regular calendar format in ‘Training Volunteers for Social Work' and ‘Basic Counselling Skills for the Helping Professions'.
The Centre for Media and Cultural Studies is engaged in media teaching, production, research and dissemination. A unique feature of the Centre is the close linkage between the technical and academic areas of its work, thus facilitating a synergy between research, teaching and production, all of which are informed by a keen sense of connection with local subaltern cultures of resistance and invention. It has to its credit 13 national and international awards for its documentary films. A Diploma programme in Media and Cultural Studies commenced in November 2007, which will be upgraded to an M.A. programme in 2008.
The Centre for Research Methodology focuses on knowledge production and skills in the methodological aspects of the various human science disciplines. The Centre is a leader in training research professionals in various fields and has been engaged in teaching, research and consulting in the area of research and analysis. The Socio-Survey Cell of the Centre is involved in large-scale surveys and analysis in several areas of applied social science research. Currently, the Centre is involved in anchoring the taught integrated M.Phil.– Ph.D. programme of the Institute.
The Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management has consolidated and extended the significant work of TISS in relief management, disaster assessment, psychosocial intervention and participatory rehabilitation processes. A post-graduate programme in Disaster Management is being offered from September 2007 by this Centre. The Centre also conducts the Certificate/Diploma programme in Sustainable Development in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Resource Centres
The Computer Centre was established with the aid of the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) to process the data of research studies undertaken by the Institute, M.Phil. and Ph.D. scholars and Master's degree students. It also provides training in data processing to research scholars, and has been recognised by the ICSSR as a Centre for Consultancy in Data Processing and Analysis.
The Publications Unit was established with the aim of knowledge development and dissemination in the field of social work and social development. It has published over a 100 books and monographs. The Publications Unit has been publishing The Indian Journal of Social Work (IJSW) uninterruptedly since 1940. The IJSW, a quarterly, focuses on multi-disciplinary knowledge development relevant to the changing perspective of the social work profession, with special reference to issues of the marginalised groups and interventions for them.
The Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library has in stock about 1,02,958 volumes. The selection of the material is geared to meet the needs of post-graduate students and M.Phil. and Ph.D. scholars. It subscribes to over 200 scholarly journals and has over 1,600 audio-visual materials. It maintains newspaper clippings on current topics and prepares bibliographies on different subjects. It is fully computerised and has a computer reading facility for visually impaired students. Users can access the library database using an Online Public Access Catalogue. The Library brings out a quarterly Selective Dissemination of Information and Current Awareness Bulletin. The UGC-INFLIBNET has recognised it as a Document Delivery Centre.