Jammu: Governor N.N. Vohra, Chancellor of the Universities of Kashmir and Jammu, chaired a meeting to discuss the issues relating to University of Kashmir and University of Jammu at the Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday.
Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, Minister for Education, Prof. R.D. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, Jammu University, Dr. Khurshid Iqbal Andrabi, Vice-Chancellor, Kashmir University, Sh. Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary Higher Education, Sh. Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister participated in the meeting.
After discussions with Bukhari it was decided that University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Janglote, shall continue to be a Constituent College of the University of Jammu with its permanent campus at Janglote, Kathua. Education Minister assured full financial and logistical support to expedite the ongoing construction of the permanent Campus at Kathua. It was also decided that the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Safapora, shall be designated as a Govt. College of Engineering and Technology since the University of Kashmir already has a full-fledged Engineering College at its Zakura Campus. Chancellor advised both the VCs to ensure that AICTE approvals are duly obtained for running technical courses in both the Engineering Colleges.
Chancellor advised that for enhancing the objectives of higher learning in J&K it was of crucial importance that the State Education and Agriculture Departments provided very strong support to the four State Universities, which included two Farm Universities and alongside, the Universities closely adhered to the decisions of their University Councils. It was decided that all State Universities shall coordinate closely with the State Education and Agriculture Departments and the Education Minister shall have early meetings with Union Home Minister and Defence Minister for securing early vacation of their lands presently under the occupation of the Army and Central Police Forces. Chancellor emphasized that long pending issues relating to Offsite Campuses of the Universities such as the creation of teaching and non-teaching staff and construction of incomplete buildings should be settled by pooling resources available with the State, schemes of the Government of India and internal resources of the Universities. Chancellor urged that at least one building should be made functional in every offsite Campus. Education Minister agreed to have the Chief Minister have an early meeting with Finance and Education Minister to settle this pending issue.
It was decided that the 5th and 6th Semester examinations of the Undergraduate batch of 2015 in colleges affiliated to the University of Kashmir should be held as early as possible for which Prof. Andrabi, Vice-Chancellor, was asked to prepare a well-considered calendar after consulting the Academic Council. It was also decided that decisions relating to academic matters such as introduction of new courses, framing rules and regulations for running courses, authorizing Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors of the Colleges to act as Guides/ Co-Guides for M.Phil/ Ph.D. scholar etc. shall be taken only in terms of the Jammu and Kashmir University Statutes.
To ensure high and uniform standards of academics in all the institutions of higher learning, Chancellor emphasized the vital importance of ensuring uniformity of examination standards and marking systems. Education Minister agreed that adherence to this principle is beneficial to the maintenance of high and uniform standards. It was agreed that this objective shall be materialized through a very early meeting between the VCs of the mother Universities and the Cluster Universities. Also, joint academic and research meetings between the Cluster and the State Universities shall be held on regular basis. Chancellor recalled that in the last round of University Council Meetings it had been clearly settled that VCs of the two Cluster Universities shall be permanent invitees to the meetings of University Council meetings of the parent universities. It was also decided that students should be made aware about the processes and procedures involved in modern examination tools like filling of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets by holding trainings /workshops before the conduct of these examinations.
Governor observed that an early further meeting shall be held with Education Minister and all Vice-Chancellors to review any remaining issues which may be affecting the implementation of academics programmes.
