MCODS
The Manipal advantage
Introduction
Founded in 1987, MCODS, Mangalore (a constituent college of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal ) is the country’s first dental college to admit 100 students to BDS course from the very first year of inception along with simultaneous commencement of postgraduate programmes. MCODS, Mangalore is a constituent unit of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, a Deemed to be University, and follows the guidelines of Dental Council of India and was recognized by it in the year 1991. The institute forms the part of Manipal Academy of Higher Education which is accredited with highest A grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC). The institute follows the ISO 9001:2015 and 14001:2015 standards, imparting quality health care to patients as well as excellent education to students.
Courses offered
The institute offers undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma and certificate programmes in various branches of dentistry. The College offers innovative certificate courses in Restorative Dentistry, Cone Beam Computerized Tomography, Forensic Odontology, Minor Oral Surgery Procedures, Modern endodontics and Microimplants for anchorage. Our institute has started Centres for Dental Advanced Education, Tobacco Cessation,Forensic Odontology and Centre for Digital dentistry. Additional Centres are being planned for caries research, pain alleviation, maxillofacial prosthesis, cleft palate, oral systemic link and oral cancer screening.
Recognitions and accreditations [Rankings]
As per the survey results by the nationally acclaimed magazines, the institute is one among the top 5 private colleges of India (India Today Ranking 2024 – 2nd among the top private colleges and 10th overall, Outlook India 2024– 3rd among private colleges, Week Magazine 2024 – 2nd among private and 8th overall). The institution has secured 8th rank in the National Institute Ranking Framework conducted by MHRD. Under QS ranking in the subject of Dentistry Manipal Academy of Higher Education was ranked in the 51-100 band (QS ranking band)
Academics
Our institute has recently upgraded the curriculum to an outcome-based education system which will modify the curriculum delivery from a teacher-centric to a student-centric mode. The assessment is also integrated with a software InPods which gives the analytics of the individual student performance as well as mapping with the course and programme outcomes. The curriculum has been designed in accordance with the syllabus prescribed by the Dental Council of India (DCI). The core courses are the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Dental Surgery. The institute has enabled the use of the online learning management system (LMS) via Impartus as well as the Brightspace platform and Impartus lecture capture system, which facilitates the delivery of the course content in the form of videos, demonstrations, lectures, powerpoint slides, PDF’s etc. The curriculum supports the use of innovative teaching modalities of ‘flip classroom’, small group teaching, student-directed learning etc. The evaluation has been divided into formative and summative assessments and the practical assessment utilizes the Objective Structured Practical and Clinical Examination systems. (OSPE/OSCE). The university has subscribed to the “Course era” platform which delivers free online courses on a variety of subjects, thus utilizing the Massive Online Open Course systems (MOOC’s).
Infrastructure
MCODS, Mangalore is spread over three locations, conveniently accessible in the city, namely Light House Hill Road, Attavar and Bejai with dedicated facilities in each of them. A total of 311 dental chairs, state-of-the-art dental equipment, centrally air-conditioned library, modern air-conditioned lecture halls and continuing professional development (CPD) rooms with audio-visual aids, phantom head simulation laboratories for preclinical training and access to the newer generation of dental materials ensure delivery of optimal training to the undergraduate and postgraduate students. The institute has a mobile dental clinic with two automated dental units that render treatment in peripheral nodal centres and areas with limited access to dental care. MCODS, Mangalore successfully conducted 667 dental camps screening and treating 21212 patients in the year 2023. The institute also provides segregated hostel facilities for both male and female students with transport provided from the hostels to the institute. The 3D Cone Beam Computerized Tomography (3D CBCT) in our college is the first fully loaded system installed in the country. The Surgical Skills Laboratory, the first of its kind in a dental institute in India, has life-size mannequins for hands-on preclinical training in injection techniques (local anaesthesia, IM/IV), tooth extraction, suturing techniques and basic life support. The state of the art surgical microscope and the CAD- Cam equipment are the new equipments added to the inventory of MCODS, Mangalore.
Regular faculty
The dedicated teaching faculty are updated with recent advances in dentistry and contribute to the dental scientific temper by way of research, grants, publications in various international and national journals (151 indexed publications in 2023) and scientific presentations at various international and national fora (159 national and 10 international presentations by faculty and students in 2023). Our researchers have received a grant of ₹51 lakhs in the last 6 years from various national and international bodies. The faculty has found a permanent place in the field of dentistry by being authors of books that are sought after by students in India and abroad. The consistently excellent performance of our students who achieve top ranks in various national competitive postgraduate examinations and those studying further in international universities is a surrogate marker and testament of the high quality of training offered to the students of MCODS, Mangalore.
International adjunct faculty
Collaboration and constant upgradation of the skills practiced globally is a must for holistic development of the student as well as the faculty. In this regard we have seven adjunct faculty which include faculty from Harvard University, USA, Mc.Gill University , Canada, Amsterdam University, Netherlands, University of Buffalo, New York, USA
Research and innovations
MCODS Mangalore encourages research, innovation, research publication, patent filing and technology commercialization at undergraduate and postgraduate level. We have collaborative and interdisciplinary research programs in association with premier research laboratories and have secured research grants from government both state and central (VGST, ICMR), industries and international funding agencies. The faculty members of MCODS Mangalore hold a record of being the foremost amongst Indian dental institutions in authoring textbooks that are preferred and recommended reading at most Dental Colleges in India. These include 29 textbooks besides contributions of chapters to many other textbooks. In the last 5 years, faculty and students published a total of 502 articles in reputed scientific journals, besides presentations at various national and international conferences, and >400 research projects, >30 of which were funded by external grants. Five members of the faculty have been awarded PhD.
Staff and students of MCODS, Mangalore over the years have been associated with innovation incubators like Philips Base of Pyramid and Manipal Academy Technology Business Incubator. A total of thirty-two innovative equipment and prototypes have been conceptualized and designed by students and members of the faculty of our institute who have also bagged the Manipal Academy of Higher Education Innovation Day awards twice in the last 5 years.
Collaborations and partnerships
Student and Staff Exchange Programs are facilitated through our MoU's with foreign universities. Our college has Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Queen Mary University, London, University of Hongkong, University of Portsmouth,UK and UITM, Malaysia, University of Turku, University of Tokushima in addition to the university MOU’s with universities of Hong Kong, Hiroshima (Japan), Sydney (Australia), Kentucky (USA) ,Perediniya (Srilanka), Karabuk(Turkey), and Griffith university, Australia and UCAM Universidad Catolica Sanantonia De Murcia , Spain, for academic and exchange programmes.
The institute also has tieups with the corporate industries like dentsply,India, Prevest India and also with institutes like Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology and NITK Surathkal
Our College has endeavored to meet the challenges of global recognition and is recognized by the Malaysian Dental Council, Kathmandu University (Nepal) and Sri Lanka Medical Council.
Internship and exchange programs
The students have a compulsory rotatory internship in the final year of their graduation. MCODS, Mangalore has collaborated for a research project with Boston University, Boston, USA and Royal College of Surgeons. Students from the University of Dundee, Scotland have completed their elective posting at our institution. We are also identified as one of the research centres by Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for clinical trials. School health program is held in collaboration with the Dental Academy, University of Portsmouth, UK. We are a nodal training centre to offer programmes by the Korean Orthodontic Research Institute.
Community services
Community outreach programs are regularly conducted in our institution to bring oral health care closer to the underserved populations. A total of five peripheral centres have been adopted by the institution where screening, health education and treatment programs are conducted regularly in a fully equipped mobile dental bus. The institution has a tobacco cessation centre which provides tobacco cessation services and spreads awareness about ill-effects of tobacco use. The institution works in collaboration with national, regional and local organizations in government sector, private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as IDA, Red cross to bring oral health closer to the community. The students enjoy doing social services through Direction In Society For Human Awareness (DISHA), a voluntary organization run by the students of the Institute as well as thorough the Voluntary Service Organization (VSO) of the university. The literary unit of the student council publish student magazines, pamphlets for dental health and participate in the road shows for oral health awareness.
Co-curriculuar activities
MCODS, Mangalore has a dedicated students council. The student council organizes the “Dental Week” where the students showcase their literary and co-curricular talents. The students participate in the intercollegiate programme “Utsav” (an intercollegiate cultural programme organized by MAHE), where we were the champions in the year 2016 and 2022, first runners up in 2019,2023 and 2024 from amongst the 21 constituent institutions.
Our College has numerous clubs to encourage and nurture talent. These include the literary club , the drama club ,the dance club and music club to name a few. The Crown jewel of the music club is the college Band ‘Silver Creek’ which has participated in various inter college events in and around Mangalore.
Alumni
MCODS Mangalore is proud to have a thriving and united alumni network. Our alumni, numbering 3631spans across the seven continents and serve as brand ambassadors for our college in the community. We have a unique alumni portal that is web based and serves as a platform to connect, network and grow. Various local alumni chapters across India and abroad meet regularly and a Silver Jubilee Reunion is hosted every year at Mangalore to commemorate the 25th year of every academic batch. Our Alumni also give back to their Alma Mater through mentoring and funding opportunities. This year, Alumni Relations, MCODS Mangalore has launched a pioneering program aimed at connecting students with alumni more meaningfully with the Alumni Student Mentorship Program. Our alumni have tasted success in academia with many of our alumni associated with teaching roles in prominent universities both in India and abroad and some of them donning the mantle of Heads of Departments/Institutions in India and abroad. We are also proud that many have made a mark in private practices in India and abroad with many of alumni having set up high quality treatment centres that are improving the lives of the communities they serve.
Placement
Our institute has always been very proactive in the success story of PG NEET exams. On an average, annually nearly 50% of our graduates are successful at the All India and State postgraduate entrance examinations and pursue higher education. The progression rate is one of the highest for any dental institute in the country. Many of our graduates have pursued or are pursuing higher education in Canada, USA, Australia, UK and Europe. Besides, hundreds of graduates are successful general dental practitioners in various parts of India and the world. Our students have participated in the Swachh Bharat Summer internship and also volunteer as a part of AIESEC; a global non-profit youth run organization.Our institute has tied up with Dental clinic chains like OrthoSquare and Clove dental to recruit our students. Our Alumni entrepreneurs who have started their EduTech Company also recruit our students for their content creation and designing.
Uniqueness
· Teacher-Guardian mentoring for all 4 years of BDS.
· Active encouragement and financial support for presentations at conferences by students and faculty.
· Outcome-based education mode of delivery of curriculum.
· Student centred learning.
· Comprehensive ‘student life cycle management’ system and access to online teaching material created by teaching faculty.
· Holistic development of students and staff: Personality development, gender sensitisation programmes, practice management, activities that foster universal values, patriotism and social cohesion etc.