Montfort College, Indiranagar, has a tiny student body (fewer than 300 students enrolled across its Masters and Bachelors programs) which makes it an attractive destination for those who wish for a favorable teacher to student ratio. The flagship program of Montfort College is M.Sc. Counselling Psychology.
The issues at Montfort aren’t new. In some ways, the issues started with COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of the college’s digital unpreparedness and Bengaluru North University’s administrative indolence.
Some decisions by Montfort such as the increased number of admission spots for students since 2023 can even be construed as a good move, were it not for the fact that this change was executed in a very unplanned manner, leading to a resource crunch and a drop in the quality of teaching. For instance, a refusal to get requisite lab equipment to match the needs of the increased class strength.
However, the larger issues began with the change in management at Montfort college in January 2024, when Dr. Molly Joy, former Head of the Department of Psychology at Kristu Jayanti College took over as principal. At this time, a new Vice Principal role was introduced for Dr. Sritha Sandon, and a new Head of Department was named, Dr. Maxim Pereira, both of whom were veterans at Montfort. More importantly, a new board of governors came at the helm of the college and seem to be steering it towards more profit-driven lows.
This change was marked by delays in the approval of the educators’ course plan that led to a severely truncated effective semester (Feb-April ‘24) for the batch of 2023-25 – this after the sem start was delayed from August 2023 to January 2024. In fact, the 2023-25 batch was treated as an experiment in how many semesters can be fit into the academic year and how to get away with providing the bare minimum to its student body. They are set to complete 3 semesters inside 1 year 2 months. Some record!
Since this management change, there have also been an almost daily unplanned cancellation of classes for administrative and extra-curricular purposes; an increased workload with reduced support for teachers and students alike; malfeasant changes in policies including unaccounted-for fees/charges; the management’s suspicious push towards block internships (paid for by the trainee) rather than the free supervised year-long practicum as promised at the time of admission; an abject lack of qualified research supervisors promised on-campus combined with a push to publish ill-supervised research; and a seeming change in the pedagogy and ethics employed on campus.
Since 2024, the college has become a hostile space for students and teachers alike. The management refuses to listen to concerns, insults students & teachers, pushes impromptu unilateral decisions, and then changes their mind again for illogical reasons while expecting everyone to accommodate their whims. One recent whimsical decision by the principal included the change of assigned practicum days for the 3rd semester Counselling Psychology students from Saturdays to Fridays – after these days were finalized, and students had found sites willing to accept them on these days, and some students had even begun practising & accepting future bookings on Saturdays from clients seeking free therapy from the trainees. The whole move was extremely unprofessional but it didn’t seem to matter to the management about how the trainees from Montfort would be perceived in the job market as having volatile schedules and requirements.
The management’s current whim is the push for 100% attendance. Anything less than 85% attendance for 2nd year masters students will lead to students being disallowed to write internal exams. Previous makeup classes for attendance have also been discontinued. The reasons for the student’s absence can be anything – death in the family, hospitalization with a serious medical condition, ongoing court case to testify against a sexual abuser – all of it is treated with absolute insensitivity and the blanket attendance rule.
The management has also shown insensitivity to bullying on the “non-ragging” campus and hostel. The management and several teachers have actively participated in this bullying and in perpetrating misogynistic, casteist, classist, queerphobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, ableist and anti-mental health ideas. For an Institute teaching mental health, the place is absolutely lacking in propriety around mental health concerns. They have shamed students who have spoken up about these issues.
The almost daily volatile changes in policy, the overwork of faculty, the low pay offered as remuneration, and their disrespectful treatment at the hands of the management has led to a mass exodus of the good teachers who were the reason why students picked Montfort. These invaluable faculty have been partially replaced with inexperienced or unqualified staff. The full strength of the staff hasn’t been filled since 2024, which keeps adding to the burnout and attrition of quality faculty who do put in efforts.
Students here have gone from looking forward to studying at Montfort to anticipating the end of their stint there. What a meteoric fall it has been for a once-prestigious institute.
