Mumbai

Meeting people at TISS Mumbai

TISS is Asia's oldest school of professional social work, based in Deonar in east Mumbai, and fieldwork in real communities is as central to student life here as anything that happens in a classroom.

The story of TISS Mumbai

TISS opened in 1936 as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work, funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. It was India's first professional school of social work.

In 1944 it was renamed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and in 1964 it became a deemed university, which let it design and award its own degrees. Over time it expanded from social work into management and labour studies, development, health, gender, media and more.

TISS now runs campuses in Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati, plus centres in Leh and Port Blair, and has more than 5,500 students. It is a grant-in-aid institute under the Ministry of Education.

What the campus is like socially

TISS life is unusually serious about the world outside campus. Coursework comes with graded fieldwork, so students spend real time with NGOs, government programmes, hospitals and community groups across Mumbai and beyond. Seminar debates about caste, gender, labour and policy continue long after class.

That said, the Deonar campus has its own social rhythm, with chai points, festival nights and long conversations in the hostels. Students come from every corner of India and from very different backgrounds, which makes the batch itself part of the education.

Traditions every TISS Mumbai student knows

• Manthan: The three-day management and cultural fest run by the HRM and Labour Relations students, with business events, cultural nights and a Manthan Mela marketplace.
• Fieldwork days: Weekly or block fieldwork placements are a defining TISS routine, especially in social work programmes.
• Manthan speakers: Past Manthan guests include Azim Premji, Arunachalam Muruganantham and Devdutt Patnaik.
• Campus festivals: Festival nights and cultural celebrations on campus bring together students from every school and state.

Campus lore and insider spots

• India's first social work school: Every orientation retells how TISS began in 1936 as a single graduate school of social work.
• From Tata to the Institute: The 1944 rename from a social work school to an institute of social sciences marked its turn toward a much broader mission.
• iCall: The free counselling helpline started at TISS is now used by people across India, and many students know it before they arrive.

How to find your people here

At TISS Mumbai, your field-work group and cohort are where friendships start, and student committees are the fastest way to meet people across programs.

Fests and societies at TISS Mumbai

Signature fests

• Manthan

Societies worth knowing at TISS Mumbai

• iCall: A national tech-assisted counselling service run by TISS's School of Human Ecology, offering free phone and email support.
• Field action projects: Research and intervention projects where students work directly with communities, from mental health to legal aid.
• Manthan committee: The student team behind the HRM fest, a crash course in sponsorship and event management.
• Student collectives: Political and identity-based student groups are an active and visible part of campus life.

Careers, internships and placements

TISS careers split into two worlds. The HRM and Labour Relations programme is one of India's best-known routes into corporate HR, with leading consulting firms, FMCG companies and banks recruiting on campus.

Most other graduates head into the development and public sectors: NGOs, CSR teams, government programmes, multilateral bodies, mental health and disaster response. Many master's programmes now admit through CUET-PG scores.

Notable alumni

• Medha Patkar: Founder of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, who earned an MA in Social Work at TISS and later taught there.
• Anu Aga: Former Thermax chairperson, Rajya Sabha member and Teach For India chair, with a TISS postgraduate degree in medical and psychiatric social work.
• Raju Kendre: Founder of the Eklavya India Foundation for first-generation learners and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, who did his master's in social work at TISS.

Rivalries and eternal debates

TISS does not really have a sporting rival, but its HRM programme is constantly compared with XLRI's HRM course on aspirant forums. On the social sciences side, students compare notes with JNU and Azim Premji University about research, politics and fieldwork.

What TISS Mumbai is talking about now

TISS has seen big changes in governance and admissions in recent years, including the use of CUET-PG for many programmes. On campus, fieldwork, Manthan and an engaged student body continue to define the experience.

Meeting people at TISS Mumbai by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into running, reading and book clubs, food and cafe hopping, and music and jamming, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

TISS Mumbai sits close to VJTI Mumbai, ICT Mumbai, and Atlas SkillTech University, all part of the same Mumbai student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is built for meeting people nearby in real time, with verified profiles only. At TISS Mumbai, that means showing you people near you who share your interests or your drive, whether or not you overlap on a class or a society.

New to TISS Mumbai? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and internship in first year.

See meeting people in Mumbai, events in Mumbai, the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.