Governor for earthquake audit of Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine area, SMVDU campus

Governor chairing Executive Council meeting of SMVDU at Jammu on Friday.
Governor chairing Executive Council meeting of SMVDU at Jammu on Friday.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 5: Governor Satya Pal Malik, Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), chaired the 29th Executive Council meeting of the University at the Raj Bhavan here today.
Governor congratulated Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor of the University and his colleagues for figuring among 800-1000 best Universities in the world as per The Times Higher Education World Ranking and securing 18th Rank among selected Indian Institutions. He was informed that the official announcement in this regard is expected in September this year.
Governor appreciated University’s efforts regarding promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, skill development and digital initiatives. He emphasised the importance of the University focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation related initiatives through the SMVDU-TBIC, which is the first Technology Business Incubator (TBIC) in the State of J&K. Chancellor stressed the need for deep involvement of the Faculty and students in conceiving and processing innovative ideas to fully exploit the support being offered by the TBIC.
Governor expressed his interest on the community research programme of the University in the field of Human Genetics including Human Evolutionary Genetics, Rare and Undiagnosed Human Genetic disorders, Complex Genetic disorders like Idiopathic Scoliosis, Autoimmune disorders, Type 2 Diabetes targeting population of Jammu and Kashmir, and Genetics of Gastric Carcinoma in ethnic population of Kashmir.
While reviewing the infrastructure development and efforts of the University Administration in ensuring a secure campus, Governor stressed an early security and earthquake audit of the campus and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine area. He observed that important buildings including hospitals, schools etc should be earthquake proof and earthquake audit should be done for all of them.
Governor suggested that a short course on Vedic Mantras and Hindu rituals should be introduced for those interested in Vedic philosophy and advised the VC to organise annual Championship of Football and other sports in order to promote sports among youth.
He was informed that the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a major initiative which is being deployed in phased manner in the University and now admission system is on-line with digital application forms and payments, on-line admission tests; Module for semester registration, attendance (Students & All Staff), Module for examination and result, Module for personnel management (including recruitment) and on-line leave application system have been implemented.
The Executive Council approved the adoption of UGC Regulations with respect to Minimum Qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in universities and colleges and measures for maintenance of standards in Higher Education, 2018, adoption of Gazette notification in respect of NPTEL MOOCS advance courses to be considered for Faculty promotion in the CAS, inclusion of on-line tests as alternative mechanism in recruitment procedure for various non teaching/teaching positions, relaxation in attendance requirements to students involved in Start-Ups, and adoption of model guidelines of UGC for re-employment of superannuated teachers.
The Executive Council meeting was attended by Prof. K.L. Chopra, former Director IIT Kharagpur; Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to the Governor; Prof. Manoj Dhar, Vice-Chancellor University of Jammu; Simrandeep Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board; Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean Faculty of Management; Prof. Eswaramoorthy Muthusamy, Dean Faculty of Engineering; Dr. Yougal Khajuria, Dean of Students Welfare; Prof. V.K. Bhat, Registrar of SMVDU.