Symbiosis Bangalore students can now put a ‘paws’ on stress!

Symbiosis Bangalore Campus welcomes two four-legged happy pooches, Birr & Baht, to enhance emotional and physical well-being of students. It becomes the 1^st campus in Karnataka and 2^nd in India only after Pune campus to implement this wonderful initiative. The campus is shared by two institutes – Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Bengaluru and Symbiosis School of Media & Communication (SSMC), Bengaluru, and their students will reap the benefits of this initiative.

Birr with Symbiosis Students

“It is well known and scientifically proven that pet therapy has many benefits including lowering BP, releasing endorphins that soothe and make you happy, lifts your spirits and lessens depression, lowers anxiety and isolation and creates better socialization with colleagues.” – says Prof. Vickramm Sampath, Director, Symbiosis School of Media & Communication, Bengaluru.

Prof. Aarti Mehta Sharma, Assistant Professor at SIBM Bengaluru, quoted “This is a very unique initiative and we have received excellent feedback from the students. This will help the students to grow emotionally and become more empathetic & kind.”

After few assignments, presentations, and a tiring day at college, there’s something very comforting about looking at those wagging tails and being greeted with wet kisses. Symbiosis International University (SIU) is the 1st university in India to experiment and implement this unorthodox method of full time dog therapy for their students who undoubtedly undergo a lot of stress during the course of their 2 year MBA program.

Baht and Birr with the Sudents

Kriti Khanna, 2^nd year SIBM Bengaluru student says, “In a B-school where the stress levels are high on a regular day, imagine the frenzy during exams. These happy pooches have the natural superpower to sense our mood and all it would take is a few minutes with them to be relieved of all anxiety. I’m elated with this initiative and can’t wait to finish my internship and go back to college.”

Niveditha Sreenivasan, 2^nd year SSMC student says, “I am so excited about the whole initiative. I have 5 pets at home and all of them are nothing less than brothers and sisters to me. I always looked forward to get back home and cuddle with them. If I have to owe my hyperactive extrovert nature to someone, it’d be undoubtedly my pets.”

Birr and Baht

With this smart move, Symbiosis University puts itself on the same page as colleges like MIT, University of Illinois, etc. which have shown the results on how petting animals can lead to improved learning for students.