Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 14: A record number of Ph D degrees and Medals were awarded to the candidates for the session 2007 to 2012 as a Special Convocation of Jammu University was held, here today.
Governor N N Vohra, who is also Chancellor of JU, presented 265 degrees in Doctorate of Philosophy and Gold Medals, Cash Awards and Endowment Medals to 367 toppers from 2007 to 2012 in the presence of Vice-Chancellor Prof R D Sharma and others.
Total 58 Ph D Degrees were awarded in the Faculty of Science, 34 in Life Science, 68 in Arts, 41 in Social Sciences, 16 in Mathematical Sciences, 34 in Business Studies, 9 in Education and 5 in Law.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor N N Vohra asked the Vice Chancellors of all the Universities in the State to make Convocation an annual feature and stressed upon the need for academic audit by carefully monitoring pattern of teaching and learning courses.
Mr Vohra said that new courses must be evaluated in terms of their marketability and employability before introduction. He also stressed upon ensuring proper infrastructure and faculty before introducing new courses at the offsite campuses as well.
The Governor asked all the stakeholders of the institutions of higher learning to check whether there is a mechanism to watch out the emerging trends in the market as the vast majority of the pass outs look for jobs. He suggested that all the courses of learning should have a small period of internship so that after getting adequate training, the students and the pass outs can get good jobs in the industry.
Emphasizing that the strength of University is directly related to its achievements that primarily lie in teaching, academics and research, Mr Vohra said that there are sufficient reasons for Jammu University to be counted among the best varsities of the country as it has the best teachers and has also produced the best students in the years gone by.
Mr Vohra said that the potential of any University gets fully exploited only when there are collaborative linkages and arrangements between all the Universities of the State and this can be done by signing agreements. He further said that the employability issues regarding academic pass outs can also be met by entering into inter university collaborations at State, central and national level.
The Governor stressed upon the relevance of offsite campuses for generating regional balance in higher education and raised the necessity of having interdisciplinary support to be offered to the offsite campuses.
With reference to the choice based credit system, Mr Vohra emphasized upon the need to have a dedicated autonomy for Universities to grow with reference to systems and procedures.
Earlier, Vice Chancellor Prof R D Sharma presented the University report and gave details of major achievements of JU during the last two months. He informed that the University of Jammu in collaboration with Association of the Indian Universities shall be hosting the Mega Cultural Event- “North Zone Inter University Youth Festival”.
He also informed that the process of land acquisition has been completed in Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi and Patnitop campuses. At Kathua campus, boys hostel, girls hostel and academic and administrative block are in near completion stage and the campus shall move from the rented accommodation to the newly constructed Academic block towards the end of this year, he added. Construction of academic blocks and girls and boys hostels are also in full swing and are near completion at Kishtwar and Ramnagar campuses, he further said.
The VC said that attracting and retaining quality faculty and officers for its offsite campuses was a major challenge, which the University was facing. “With more than ten programmes currently being offered in the offsite campuses and an equal number being planned to be offered in the subsequent years, the University needs to draw out some kind of an “Incentive Plan” to recruit experienced and qualified teaching staff for raising and maintaining the standards of teaching and research in the campuses,” he explained.
Proceeding of the mega event commenced with JU Registrar Prof Manoj K Dhar seeking permission of the Chancellor for declaring the Special Convocation open after the members in Academic Procession took their respective seats on the dais.
Faculty members, students, their parents and some distinguished guest were among those present in this jam-packed Special Convocation.
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