The Jawaharlal Nehru University may soon start offering courses in engineering and management. Its academic council (AC) has already approval to setting up a school of engineering. The council also approved upgrading the special centre for Sanskrit studies into a school.
The vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar had said earlier this year that the university was planning to start these two courses.
THE FUTURE COURSE OF ACTION
The council members confirmed that a proposal to set up a school of engineering was approved recently along with the change of the special centre for Sanskrit studies into a School for Sanskrit and Indic Studies. The changes now need to be approved by the executive council before implementation.
BUT JNUTA HAS A DEMAND…
JNU teachers’ association (JNUTA) said their demands on a discussion on how the school of engineering programmes would be different from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) were not answered. It also alleged that no actual proposal was circulated on the issue of upgrading the Sanskrit studies centre.
“The chair announced that he has been promised Rs 180 crore by the UGC for this (Engineering) School and full support in terms of faculty positions. A decision to run the entrance exam, rather than through the IIT-JEE system was also announced. Along with engineering, the programme in management was also deemed to be passed, even though not one comment regarding this was placed as part of the agenda for discussion,” a statement from JNUTA said.
SO WHAT NEXT?
If approved, the university will take students for these subjects for 2019 -2020 academic session. The vice-chancellor, registrar, and rector-I did not respond to calls and text messages seeking their comments on the issue.
JNU, established in 1969, is known for its arts and humanities subjects. JNU officials had submitted a proposal and made a presentation to the university regulator University Grants Commission.
