HPU gears up for NAAC team’s visit

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30

Himachal Pradesh University has appointed 60 teachers and succeeded in persuading the SFI to end its 153-day chain hunger strike ahead of the visit of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

The university is hopeful of a fruitful outcome. It has implemented RUSA, nominated the Students Central Association (SCA) and has signed an MoU with various organisations for the improvement of grade.

Preparations are in full swing for the four-day visit of the 13-member NAAC team from October 3. “All departments have been asked to highlight their achievements,” said Vice-Chancellor Prof ADN Bajpai.

Listing ‘Kulgeet’ (university anthem), ‘Mangalacharan’ (morning prayer), ‘Navonameshi Patrika’ (magazine), news letter, research journal and monograph as new innovations, he said the university had 2,378 research publications, 52 monographs, 55 edited books and 64 books with the Indian Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Bajpai said the HPU was the first university in the country to introduce the semester system under RUSA for undergraduate courses. “We have been able to create congenial and conducive academic atmosphere on the campus by scrapping the direct elections to the Students Central Association (SCA) and replacing the same by nominated bodies. We have recruited 60 teachers and 54 non-teaching staff members,” he said.

An MoU has been signed with the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Central Research Institute (CRI), Kausali, Army Training Command, Himachal Pradesh Police, North East Himalayan Study Centre and Bath Spa University, the UK.

The government grant has been increased from Rs 50 crore to Rs 90 crore in the past five years and no pension case or medical reimbursement bill is pending and as of today. “The university has a corpus of Rs 120 crore,” said Bajpai.

Expansion plans of the university are in place and the second campus is coming up at Ghanahatti near Shimla and about 230 bighas of government land has been transferred. A regional centre is being set up at Mohal in Una district.