Commissioner/Secretary, Higher Education Department Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon today chaired a meeting to review the steps taken by the department for establishment of two Schools of Architecture in the State.It was informed in the meeting that the department has received 45 applications in Jammu and 39 applications in Kashmir from different schools for the establishment of Schools of Architecture on self-financing basis. These Architecture Schools will have intake capacity of 40 students each in Kashmir and Jammu with an annual fee of Rs 1 lakh per student.The selection of faculty for the Schools would be done as per Council of Architecture (CoA) norms by Selection Committee consisting of Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, Prof KT Ravindrain, Head Urban Design (SPA, New Delhi) Prof. Ajay Khare (Director) School of Planning & Architecture, Bhopal, HOD SMVDU, Chief Architect J&K Principal, GCET Jammu, Mr. Sameer Hamdani, Architect Intach, J&K.
The Principals of Govt Degree College, Bemina and MAM College were directed to upload applications for registration of the respective schools online on web-portal of Council of Architecture and deposit fee of Rs. 5 lakh each before 31st January, 2017 for registration by Council of Architecture.They were also directed to create a separate Corpus Fund of Rs 50 lakh for each School of Architecture, out of their local funds and register management as a Society to be supervised by a governing body to be constituted by state government.It was informed in the meeting that first round of counseling of principals of Higher Secondary Schools by AICTE for various professional technical courses including Architecture shall be conducted on 8th February, 2017 at Jammu and 22nd February, 2017 at Srinagar. The awareness workshops would also be conducted among students of Class XII at various district headquarters to inform them about National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) to be conducted on 16th April, 2017.
It was decided in the meeting that the syllabus of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Department of Architecture shall be opted, which has already been approved by Council of Architecture, by both schools of Architecture at Srinagar and Jammu with suitable amendments to incorporate hill architecture.Director Colleges, Director RUSA, Principal GCET Jammu, Chief Architect, Senior Town Planner JDA, Senior Town Planner SDA, HoD SMVDU and officers from Kashmir participated in the meeting through video conference.