VCs asked to facilitate interaction between staff of varsities, colleges

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 21

Governor NN Vohra has stressed the need for meaningful interactions between the faculties of universities with the teaching fraternity in colleges and higher secondary schools to enhance the standards of teaching and learning at all levels in the educational system.

The Governor, who is also Chancellor of Kashmir University, advised the Vice Chancellors of both Kashmir and Jammu Universities for doing this in the Kashmir University’s 76th council meeting. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Pro Chancellor of the university and Naeem Akhter, Education Minister, participated in the meeting.

The Chancellor and the Pro Chancellor suggested a sharper focus on the quality of the upcoming infrastructural projects in the main and the off-site campuses of the university.

Prof Andrabi, Vice Chancellor, reported the outcome of the review of all existing courses offered in the off-site campuses undertaken by the university, consequent to which certain courses had been dropped. The Chancellor advised that such reviews should be carried out on a continuing basis so that, dynamically, the less relevant courses are suitably modified or dropped and new courses introduced to meet the aspirations of the students vis-a-vis the emerging job market requirements.

The Chancellor, Pro Chancellor and the Education Minister took note of the comparatively improved performance in the humanities arena as compared to the rather inadequate performance in the past years.

It was noted that the number of research papers in the humanities subjects had increased. The Vice Chancellor was advised to continuously raise the level of research work and the publications flowing there from.

While considering various academic matters, the council approved Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) by the Educational Multi Media Research Centre (EMMRC); conduct of back to back examinations of the first and second semester batches (2016-17) and of the second and third semester batches of 2015-16 in the undergraduate courses as a contingency measure in view of the recent unrest; substitution of semester-end examinations by continuous unit-wise assessments in each of the postgraduate programmes, as per the proposed scheme; reservation of 60 per cent seats for English Honours graduates for admissions to the Masters of Arts in English course; approval of draft statutes and regulations governing semesterised Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for undergraduate-level courses; approval of statutes governing the two-year BEd programme through the Directorate of Distance Education; and creation of one supernumerary seat for admission to the various post-graduation courses on the main campus for the candidates from Kargil.

The council approved introduction of a MEd supplementary programme at Government College of Education, Srinagar, from the 2016 academic session and reservations for specially-abled candidates in teaching and non-teaching jobs in the university.