The year 1896 marked the beginning of a new era in women's education in India when Dhondo Keshav Karve realized to make women self-sufficient, self-reliant and self-confident. Karve launched a programme of schooling in Pune, which became a regular school for girls and women. In a society governed by age-old customs and conservative attitudes towards women, the school was bound to face social and economic difficulties. He had a dream of establishing a Women's University.
In December 1915, Karve, in his presidential address to the National Social Reform Congress in Bombay, announced his decision to shape his dream into reality. On 2nd July 1916, the first College started with the enrollment of five students; it gradually took shape as a Women's University. In 1920, the University was named Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University.
In 1936, the headquarters was shifted from Pune to Bombay. The University continued to grow, providing higher education to more and more women. In 1951, the university was granted statutory recognition and was renamed Shrimati Nathibai Thackersey Women's University now popularly known as SNDT Women's University. The recognition came along with rare privilege of having a jurisdiction across the country. On 5th July 2016, the University marked completion of 100 years of its Foundation. his is the first Women's University in India and South East Asia. Currently, the University has an enrolment of over 70,000 students. It has three campuses namely Churchgate, Mumbai Santacruz-Juhu, Mumbai and Pune. The University has 39 departments and 15 faculties. There were 174 undergraduate colleges and 8 institutions recognized for PhD degree as of 2016. The university continues to manage three Secondary Schools for girls, which it inherited. The University is actively involved in Teaching, Research and Extension work. The University has more than 200 colleges in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Goa and Uttar Pradesh.
VISION
Today we visualize the SNDT Women's University as a world class university that continually responds to the changing social realities through the development and application of knowledge. The purpose of such engagement will be to create an inclusive society that promotes and protects the dignity, equality, social justice and human rights for all, with special emphasis on empowerment of women.
MISSION
SNDT Women's University, Mumbai is committed to the cause of Women Empowerment by providing them access to education, particularly higher education, through relevant courses in the formal and non-formal streams. Further the University is committed to provide a wide range of professional and vocational courses to the women for meeting the changing socio-economic needs, with human values and purposeful social responsibility and achieving excellence with “Quality in every Activity”
MOTTO
An Enlightened Woman is a Source of Infinite Strength 'Sanskrita Stree Parashakti '
Salient Features
