Делі университетінің үздік әйелдер колледжі: Миранда Хаус

Constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India

Miranda House is a constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. Established in 1948, it is one of the top ranked colleges of the country and ranked number 1 for consecutively seven years (as of 2023).

Miranda House was founded in 1948 by the university vice chancellor, Sir Maurice Gwyer. In a magazine published by him in 1952, he gave three reasons for why the college was called Miranda. His favorite actress was Carmen Miranda, his daughter's name was Miranda, and a character named Miranda in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest was, according to him, a perfect example of what a lady should be. Its foundation stone was laid by Lady Edwina Mountbatten on 7 March of the same year. Miranda House is built of red bricks on the university campus. Its original design was planned by the architect Walter Sykes George and is architecturally similar to other educational institutions in India founded in the colonial era. As the college grew, several buildings were added. Alumni and students of this college are known as Mirandians. Miranda House started with 33 students in July 1948, which rose to 105 by September the same year. It was 2,090 in 1997–98. The academic staff increased from six in 1948 to 120 (permanent) in 1997–98 and that of non academic staff from 11 in 1948 (five in the hostel and six in the college) to 120 in 1997–98. The college accommodation (hostel) housed 43 students in 1948, of whom seven were enrolled at other colleges of the University of Delhi. There are now 250 students in the hostel. At the time of its founding, Miranda House had six departments; as of 2012, there were eighteen. Miranda House pioneered science education for women at the University of Delhi when it started its B. Sc. Honours (Botany) course in 1948. Science teaching was conducted in the university and in 1963–64, B. Sc. General and in 1971, B. Sc. Honours teaching work started in the college. Many new subjects have been introduced in the humanities and social sciences since then. Miranda House provides liberal education in social sciences, humanities and the basic sciences. The college's infrastructure includes teaching laboratories and general facilities. as of 2012, Miranda House has more than 4,000 students.

Miranda House offers a wide array of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. All undergraduate courses commencing from the academic year 2014 15 are according to the three year undergraduate honours degree system.

B. A. Programme
B. A. Honours: Bengali, economics, English, geography, Hindi, history, Hindustani music (vocal/ instrumental), philosophy, political science, Sanskrit, Sociology
B. Sc. Honours: botany, chemistry, mathematics, physics, zoology
B. Sc. : life sciences, physical science (computer science)
B. El. Ed: (four year course)

Students enroll for M. A. and M. Sc. programmes in the college; classes are held at the respective departments at the university. M. A. programme: The same subjects are offered as at the B. A. Honours level except for Political Science, Geography, and Sociology. M. Sc. programme: The same subjects are offered as at the B. Sc. Honours level. Additionally, the college offers M. Sc. in Anthropology.

The University of Delhi introduced the four year undergraduate program scheme in the academic year 2013 14. All undergraduate programs offered by the University of Delhi would thenceforth be for the duration of four years, with multiple exit options and the inclusion of research components. This reform was intended to provide greater flexibility and wider range of choices to the students. In June 2014, after a lot of controversy, speculation and protests, the four year undergraduate program was removed according to the directives of the University Grants Commission. All the constituent colleges of the University of Delhi were instructed to return to the previous three year format for first degrees. Now a Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) is being followed in the University of Delhi.

The college offers one year certificate courses in French, German, and Spanish in collaboration with the department of Germanic and Romance studies and department of East Asian studies, University of Delhi. ===
The college offers a 2 month certificate course in computer applications and a 16 week certificate course in computer applications for visually challenged students. The college does not charge a fee for computer applications for visually challenged students.

The Miranda House Library acquired its first book on 22 July 1948. In the beginning it was confined to one room. The present building was constructed under the guidance of the founder librarian, P. Tandon. The foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 7 March 1973. The new library block is a double storeyed building consisting of deposit counter, issue of books counter, stack hall, reserve section, reading hall, teachers' reading room, magazine section, and administrative section.

Miranda House is the first college to establish a computer based resource centre to aid its visually challenged students. Work on the resource centre was initiated in 2006, with an endowment from Ms Manju Kapur Dalmia, author and member of teaching faculty at Miranda House.

D S Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education and Amstel Institute (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) have instituted this project in collaboration. The primary objective is to improve the quality of science education in schools by introducing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools embedded in carefully designed learning environments. The centre conducts baseline tests for undergraduate students and a prestigious 'Science Award' is given to a student from all the science departments and years on the basis of a test scores and a presentation on a contemporary and interdisciplinary topic. Summer internships, lectures and camps have been successfully organized by the centre.

The placement cell of the college consists of faculty members and student volunteers. The Placement Cell coordinates the activities of career counseling and campus recruitment.

Miranda House has ranked first among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Veda Thakurdas (1948–1956), the founder principal of Miranda House, was the first woman to do an MA in mathematics from Punjab University in 1930 and a Tripos from Cambridge. Retired: 1966 67. Died: 26 February 1984. S. Krishnaswamy (1957–1964), the principal of Maharani College, Bangalore, before coming to Miranda House. She was instrumental in starting the teaching of science courses in the college; the plan for science teaching in Miranda House was mooted during her time. She left Miranda House to take up an assignment as an education advisor in Tanganyika. Died: August 1982. M. Chandy (1964–1971) was teaching in the department of zoology, University of Delhi, before joining Miranda House as principal. During her principalship, the Indo American Women College Exchange Programme was initiated. N. S. S. was introduced during her tenure. Died: May 1989. A. C. Janaki amma (1971–1981) joined Miranda House as a lecturer in 1948. She obtained her doctorate from the London School of Economics. During her tenure as principal, the new library building was built. She was secretary of N. C. W. E. B., University of Delhi, between 1963 and 1969. Died: 20 October 1994. T. S. Rukmani (1982–1993), a former student of Miranda House (1949–1954), she taught Sanskrit in I. P. College, University of Delhi, before assuming charge of Miranda House and was also the secretary of N. C. W. E. B., University of Delhi. She was awarded, D. Litt. by the University of Delhi. as of 2012, she held the chair of Hindu Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. Kiran Datar (1993 to 2000) is an old Mirandian. Before coming to Miranda House as principal, she was teaching at J. D. M., University of Delhi. She did M. A. in history from the University of Delhi and was a Fulbright Fellow of the University of Washington, U. S. She obtained her Ph. D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has been a recipient of Dorothy Lee Grant and was awarded the Mahila Shiromani Award in 1994 for excellence in a chosen field of activity (education). Dr. Pratibha Jolly (2005 2019) was the principal of Miranda House. She gained Ph. D. for theoretical work in chemical physics from the University of Delhi and taught in Miranda House for eight years before joining the department of physics at the University of Delhi as a research scientist, where she began work in the area of physics education research and curriculum development at the tertiary level. Her research interests include computational physics; electronic instrumentation; use of computer based technologies in education; development of locally produced low cost equipment; teacher training; cognitive aspects of students’ learning and diverse student populations. A major thrust has been to engage undergraduate students in the development of a package called Science Online consisting of an indigenous low cost data acquisition system and comprehensive set of sensor circuits for real time measurements in multidisciplinary contexts.

Filmmaker and Miranda House alumnus Mira Nair shot scenes of her movie The Reluctant Fundamentalist, starring Riz Ahmed and Kate Hudson, at Miranda House. Miranda House also appears in Neeraj Pandey's Akshay Kumar starrer Special 26. Pandey needed to replicate CBI headquarters, for which the crew recommended the heritage hall at Miranda House. Scenes of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s acclaimed movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag with Farhan Akhtar in the lead were shot in the college. The introduction song "Fukrey" and most of the college sequences of the film were shot in Miranda House. Kabir Singh starring Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani was also shot in the campus.