Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Thursday said that establishment of various Universities in the State has expanded higher education orbit and provided the students with more opportunities to pursue higher educational goals in modern subjects of science and technology.Reviewing the progress of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora at a high level meeting here, the Chief Minister who is also the Chancellor of the University underlined the need of upgrading resources mobilization to cater to the increasing demands of infrastructural development and strengthening of faculties in the Universities.
Minister for Higher Education, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Minister for Haj and Auqaf, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Principal Secretary, Planning, B. R. Sharma, Principal Secretary, Finance, B. B.Vyas, Vice Chancellor, IUST, A. R. Trag, Commissioner Secretary, higher Education, Commissioner Secretary, Technical Education and various officers were present in the meeting. In a power point presentation the Vice Chancellor, IUST briefed the Chief Minister on the performance of the University and highlighted the areas requiring the support of the State Government to help the University in its growth and development.
He said integrated M.Phil and PhD programmes in School of Social Science and Humanities have been introduced in the University this year and 32 research scholars are presently pursuing higher goals in these discipline besides the scholars from school of study. He said two new courses of M.Sc Statistics (Actuarial) and MBA (International Business) have also been started in the University. He said the roll of students has gone up from 2151 in 2012 to 2855 in 2014. He said as many as 241 students are on roll in newly approved Government Polytechnic by the Government. He said that Rs.7.30 crore have been released by the Government for the establishment of this Polytechnic Institute.
While lauding the Chief Minister for his keen interest in the growth and development of education in the State, Trag thanked him for enhancing the grants to the IUST and said that as compare to Rs.7.22 crore granted by the State Government to the University from 2005 to 2009, the University received Rs.26.82 crore from 2010 to 2014.The Vice Chancellor told the meeting that infrastructure development in the campus is on full swing. He said the construction of Electronic and Communication Engineering Block and Computer Science and Engineering Block have been completed while as work on the construction of OBC Girls Hostel has been completed up to 85% and the construction of Mini-Lecture Theatre with nine classrooms is also under execution. He said construction of Food Technology Block has also been taken in hand.