New norms for PhD at IKG-PTU

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 2

Aiming to improve the standards of research education, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University Board of Governors approved new norms for PhD students regarding minimum credits and six-month residency on normal working days yesterday.

New norms for PhD guides were also approved which included abolishing of internal quota of 30 per cent in PhD admission and reduction of interview weightage to 20 per cent in the admission process. During its 61st meeting, the board approved measures to strengthen the academics of the university. The meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal.

Towards improving the quality of faculty, a training calendar for faculty has been approved. The entire faculty at IKG-PTU and its affiliated institutions would get their salaries through Aadhar-seeded accounts to check the ghost faculty.

Distance Education Programme has been cleaned up and the nod was given to the recommendations of the committee in line with the UGC guidelines paving the way for scaling up the programme of the university.

Rakesh Verma, officiating Vice-Chancellor of the university, addressed the dire need of enhancing the employability of the students. “The board approved to incorporate skill-based courses in its framework with both, specific skills and generic skills. A committee has been constituted to submit detailed action plan within a month. It will be a big step in aligning technical education to the skill needs of the industry”, he said.

To safeguard the interests of the students, centralised counselling and online admission process has been strengthened. As per the policy approved by the government, all students desirous of getting scholarship will have to participate in the centralised counseling, so that the malpractice of ghost students could be curbed with linking of the admission with the Aadhar card. Even non-AICTE courses of the university will follow the online admission process.

Strengthening the administration of the university, UGC guidelines were adopted to recruit regular Registrar and Controller of Examination on fast track. Services of MAGSIPA were approved for implementing its HR audit report in a phased manner preparing standard operating procedures for every aspect of IKGPTU functioning.

It has also been decided that CAG will audit the accounts of the university and standard operating procedure for finance and accounts functions of the university will be put in place within 15 days.

An enterprise wide IT-based University Management System will be put in place to provide efficient management support to all the stakeholders in the University.

While consolidating its regulatory capabilities, IKGPTU is now ready to launch itself into the next phase towards achieving academic excellence and the university has engaged Educational Consultant of India (EDCIL), an agency under MHRD, Government of India, to prepare a strategic plan and detailed report for the University’s academic programme, infrastructure plan, financial plan and governance.

MP Singh, Principal Secretary to Technical Education and Industrial Training and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Deans, Registrar and other Board members attended the meeting.