Academic Session not to be delayed at any cost: Kansal

Jammu: Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department (HED), Rohit Kansal Thursday chaired a meeting with Registrars and Deans of all the Universities of J&K to review the process regarding commencement of academic session 2022-23 in the universities and Colleges.
While reviewing the progress on ongoing admission process, the Principal Secretary stressed upon the participants that the last date of admissions should be fixed so that the students of all Boards including CBSE get adequate opportunity for admission to colleges and universities here. “Our priority is to streamline the admission process and examination process, and ensure that no candidate should be deprived of admission in any college of Jammu and Kashmir”, Kansal remarked.
Reviewing the progress on implementation of NEP-2020, the Principal Secretary maintained that for better implementation of National Education Policy, all universities should work in coordination and maintain effective communication among themselves. He emphasized that the colleges, the universities and the regulators were the three pillars of the educational ecosystem and they needed to work in harmony and symbiosis to ensure the system was able to deliver quality education to the students. He asked the universities to ensure that all preparatory activities including finalization of syllabi were completed well before the beginning of the new session. He also directed the concerned for establishing career counseling cells in each college and university for providing guidance to students. He directed that universities should take the lead in organising workshops and lectures by professionals to guide the students in the placement process.
The Principal Secretary also stressed that all universities/ colleges needed to widely disseminate information about NEP and he advised them to hold seminars and symposia to discuss in detail the implementation mechanism. He also advised the universities to revive the practice of inter university sports and cultural activities and other competitions. The Principal Secretary also directed the college representatives to prepare a framework for starting skill development courses in their respective colleges.
While reviewing the research activities in colleges, the Principal Secretary requested the representatives of Universities to handhold colleges to conduct research at the college level also and guide them for conducting research by providing equipment and manpower support.
During the meeting, the Principal Secretary was informed that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has decided to setup examination infrastructure in universities and colleges in order to streamline examinations of universities, colleges, JKSSB, JKPSC and other important examinations. On this, the Principal Secretary directed the participants to identify suitable halls, land to establish these dedicated examination centers.
Reviewing other initiatives of universities, the Principal Secretary expressed satisfaction over the fact that all colleges and universities of J&K were enthusiastically participating in the developing of an ERP solution via the e-samarth platform. He advised the universities to provide data to the IT nodal officers for relevant e Samarth modules. He directed for nominating nodal officers from each university for coordination with the IT department.
The meeting among others was attended by Registrars and Dean Academics of University of Kashmir, University of Jammu, Islamic University, SMVDU, Cluster University of Jammu/ Kashmir, Central Universities of Kashmir and Jammu, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah besides Director Colleges and other senior officers.