Chairing the 82nd meeting of the University Council at the Raj Bhawan, Governor N.N. Vohra, Chancellor of the University of Jammu observed that J&K State has the privilege of hosting 9 State and Central Universities, NIT, IIM, IIT, SKIMS, IIIM, Medical and Engineering Colleges and other institutions of learning. He noted the vital importance of ensuring the effective utilization of the total corpus of intellectual and scientific resources available within this large number of educational institutions to speed up the growth and development of the State. The Governor stated that, for attaining this objective every University must have wide ranging research programmes and also ensure that besides pure research the research projects focus on identified major problems faced in the State. The implementation of this approach would require inter institutional linkages both within and beyond the State.Noting that ranking and accreditation should help the University’s performance being assessed within the national and international comparative framework, the Chancellor congratulated the Vice Chancellor and all his colleagues on the University being awarded A+ grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, which makes it as the only A+ University in the State and becoming a part of the elite group of institutions in the country which have attained such ranking.
Governor observed that it is commendable for the University to gain the 63rd rank among the Indian Universities this year, under the National Institutional Ranking Framework. He applauded the efforts of all faculty members, scholars and students on this remarkable achievement and remarked that these rankings and assessments clearly show JU’s ability to sustain quality. He urged the VC to draw up a strategic plan and a road map so that the University can enhance its areas of potential excellence and turn around its weaknesses. Chancellor advised the VC to put in place a mechanism for tracking the careers taken up by the students who pass out from the University as such data would provide a reliable basis for understanding the prevailing and arising job market requirements and timely re-orienting the teaching curricula to enable the pass-outs to enjoy better prospects.Sh. Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, Minister for Education, stressed the importance of augmenting residential infrastructure for the girl students within the campuses.Governor stressed that high priority should be accorded to ensure holistic development of students by providing them opportunities to engage in sports and extra-curricular activities.The Council approved the adoption of Hindi Literature as a core subject at the UG level and the commencement of B.A. (Hons.) programme in Hindi in the affiliated colleges, introduction of a Master Degree Programme in Geography on self-supporting basis at the Bhaderwah Campus from the academic session 2016-17.
The Council also approved the proposal to institutionalize Prof. D.K. Rampal Memorial Guest Lecture, institution of the ‘Kunwar Viyogi Sahitya Academy Award in Dogri;’ adoption of statutes for the Three Year Bachelor of Business Administration Hotel Management (BBA-HM) Programme under the Choice Based Credit System w.e.f. academic session 2016-17, and the introduction of the Choice Based Credit System at the Under Graduate level from academic session 2016-17.Vice-Chancellor made a presentation on the initiatives and achievements of the University and informed that Research, Academics and extra-curricular activities are being carried out in the main campus, offsite campuses and in affiliated colleges, on a regular basis. He informed the Council that publications with a High Impact Factor were being published by the faculty members.In all , fifty two agenda items were discussed by the meeting of the University Council which was attended by Prof. Vinayshil Gautam, Founder Director, IIM-K; Prof. V. K. Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal; Prof. Khursheed Iqbal Andrabi, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir; Sh. Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor; Sh. Navin Kumar Chaudhary, Financial Advisor (Universities); Dr. Asgar Samoon, Commissioner Higher Education Department; Prof. Keshav Sharma, Registrar, University of Jammu; Prof. Naresh Padha, Dean, Faculty of Sciences, Dr. K.S. Charak, President, Jammu University Teachers Association and Sh. D.S. Manhas, President, College Teachers Association.