Srinagar: Additional Secretary (Education), Department of Higher Education, Government of India, Sunil Kumar Barnwal, on Saturday assured to extend all possible support and cooperation from the Ministry, for the ongoing construction projects in the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) Ganderbal and also for the growth and progress on the academics, research and allied fronts.
According to a statement issued from Public Relations Office CUK here, Kumar said this while taking a review meeting with the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutes at SKICC here He said, the Ministry is seized of the challenges and difficulties faced by the university administration and will support the varsity in all its endeavours to make it an educational institution par excellence.
Vice Chancellor, CUK, Prof. A Ravinder Nath, Dean Academic Affairs, Prof. Shahid Rasool, Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar, Planning and Development Officer, Prof. Syed Zahoor Geelani, Registrar, University of Kashmir, Dr. Nisar Ahmad Mir, Registrar, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Prof. Kaiser Bukhari, Director Colleges, Prof. Yasmeen Ashai, MD, RUSA, Mr. Ashok Kumar, Finance Officer CUK, Dr. Mehraj ud Din Shah, and other senior functionaries of the university were also present.
Mr. Kumar, asked all the universities functioning in the Valley to help each other by sharing their resources, in the form of infrastructure and human resources for the benefit of the students and research scholars. “The universities should explore the possibility to launch courses jointly and pool their resources for the same,” Mr. Sunil added. The top functionary in the Ministry asked the universities to promote the Swayam courses and inform and sensitise the students about the same. He further asked the university administrations to use all the modules of the e-Samarth in order to streamline the functioning of the institutions.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor, CUK, Prof. A Ravinder Nath, made a detailed presentation and gave an overview of the CUK functioning and said the varsity was marching forward on the academics and research front. He said the university is functioning from four different campuses, including the designated Tulmulla campus, has nine School of Studies, having 21 departments, offering various programmes. He said the students from different corners of the country are pursuing education and research in various departments of the university and are contended with the facilities provided. CUK Vice Chancellor, said the university has also employed motivated faculty from different states of the country and Jammu and Kashmir who are continuously mentoring the students. CUK VC said that a nodal officer has been appointed for successfully implementing the NEP-2020 and academic coordinators have been identified for each department, focussing on multidisciplinary education. Prof. A Ravinder Nath, said work for constructing the permanent structures have already been given to various executing agencies, and the construction has gathered pace from the last three months. He also raised certain projections for grants for undertaking different works from the Ministry and requested for their early release. “As the Technical Committee constituted by the MoE, has submitted its detailed report for construction of permanent structures, the university will now submit the Detailed Project Report (DPR) so that the construction on academic and administrative blocks, Central facilities and amenities, sports centric recreational facilities, will be taken up soon”. Prof. A Ravinder Nath, said the scope of institutional growth is very high and can attract the best expertise in the country.
Director Colleges, Prof. Yasmeen Ashai, apprised Mr Kumar about the functioning of colleges across Kashmir and said that NEP-2020 and other directives from the Ministry are being implemented in these institutions in letter and spirit.
Registrar KU, Dr. Nisar Ahmad Mir apprised the Ministry official about the academic growth of the university of Kashmir. Registrar NIT, Prof. Kaiser Bukhari, briefed him about the research and development projects and the patents obtained by the students of NIT. MD, RUSA, Mr. Ashok Kumar, also apprised the Additional Secretary about the progress made in different arenas.
Dean Academic Affairs, Prof. Shahid Rasool, while proposing the vote of thanks, said the CUK was making good progress on the infrastructure front and also the admission for the current academic session was going on in full swing.
Thereafter, Sunil Kumar, visited the Tulmulla campus, Ganderbal and took a first-hand account and stock of the ongoing project works. He interacted with the faculty and discussed various issues concerning higher education in general and CUK in particular. He visited the construction site and interacted with the engineering wing. Sunil asked the executing agencies to expedite the works and complete the projects within the stipulated time frame. He also planted a sapling inside the campus under the ongoing campaign Mere Maati Mera Desh.
