Chancellor chairs 4th meeting of CUK Court

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Srinagar: The fourth meeting of the Court, highest Statutory body of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) was held at SK International Convention Centre (SKICC) here on Saturday with Chancellor, Lt. Gen (Retd) Atta Hasnain in Chair.

CUK Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir, University of Kashmir, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Talat Ahmad, Central University of Jammu, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ashok Aima, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mushtaq Siddique, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof. Jalees Ahmad Khan Tareen, Registrar, Prof. Fayaz A Nikka, Controller of Examinations, Prof. Parveen Pandit, Deans, Directors, Heads and Coordinators of different departments and Librarian, senior functionaries of the varsity were also present during the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Chancellor, Lt. Gen (Retd) Atta Hasnain, said, “Education plays an important role in restoring, self-esteem, dignity and confidence among people anywhere. I have always loved the land and people of Kashmir.” He said the poor quality of land coupled with other issues have created impediments in the establishment of the varsity at its designated place. He asked the faculty members to remain more interactive in order to cultivate the benefits of collective wisdom. He said the Central University of Kashmir and Jammu should jointly hold academic and sports activities and invite students and scholars of their varsities to participate in them, adding the faculty members of both the institutions should frequently interact with each other. “Both the universities should come up as model universities,” he said. CUK Chancellor also advocated for promotion of mentorship in the institution and asked the students to conduct a research about the concept of mentorship and how can it make a difference in the functioning of the university. He opined that a competition should be organised to prompt the students to write papers on mentorship for which prizes should be awarded.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir, gave a detailed presentation about the university and said the varsity has nine Schools and 18 PG departments with near about 35 programmes including five year integrated courses and skill based programmes. He said the admission to the programmes including research degree programmes offered by the CUK and other sister universities is jointly conducted by the consortium of 10 Central Universities on the basis of Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET). He said the Examination and Evaluation Wing of the university is always conducting the End Semester Examinations (ESE) and other assessment tests on time and is declaring their results immediately.

“The number of students and scholars receiving education and pursuing research in the university as on date is more than 2300,” Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir said. He said the CUK has been able to get the senior qualified faculty on regular basis and the faculty members represent many States of India. Prof. Mir said the CUK has given due preference as far as professional development of the teachers and administrative staff is concerned. 

Vice-Chancellor, said the university has already established an Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Directorate of Students Welfare, Research Council and other important cells and bodies, adding the university has an efficient students feedback system. Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir said the varsity, despite facing infrastructural deficiencies, has organised several international and national seminars, workshops, conferences, guest and extension lectures and other academic activities from time to time.  He said the curriculum of all the programmes is upgraded to address the needs of different stakeholders including public and private sector. The university since recent past has been focusing more on skill based technical courses and integrated programmes to ensure employability of the graduates and to also make them skilled, he said adding the varsity has recently established a Design and Innovation Centre (DIC) to provide skill based training.

He said the university has already shifted some of the teaching departments to Ganderbal and the departments of IT and ITSS are now operating from newly constructed Pre Engineered Building (PEB) at the designated campus site at Tulmulla while as the departments of Zoology, Biotechnology, Urdu and English are now functioning from Old district hospital Ganderbal, which has been renamed as the Science block.

He said the university administration has been shifted to DIET building at Nunar Ganderbal, while as CMO building at Old district Hospital is being used as the Girls hostel. He said the university is also functioning from RUSA building inside the Old Physical Education College Ganderbal, adding the scores of classrooms are being constructed in the College so that more teaching departments are shifted.  

The members discussed several issued threadbare and also suggested measures regarding the overall development of the varsity.

Registrar, Prof. Fayaz A Nika, conducted the proceedings and also presented the agenda for the meeting.