New courses on Syndicate agenda

Amarjot Kaur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 10

On May 1, a committee at Panjab University had suggested to examine proposals regarding the number of seats and additional or new courses in various departments of the university.

Taking it forward from the previous Syndicate meeting on April 10, the committee considered the opinion by Professor Rattan Singh, Director of PU’s UILS, with regard to increasing the seats in in-service category, self-financed and partly self-financed courses. His legal opinion read: “15 seats reserved for the NRI category at the department of Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital are not supplementary seats. Therefore, as suggested, out of 15 seats, 10 seats can be given to self-financed seats and if out of five seats of the NRI category, any seat remains vacant, it can be converted into general category.”

The committee had recommended that 50 per cent of the seats of the UIET and BE (biotechnology) be filled through PU-CET (UG). The candidates of the medical and non-medical streams may also be allowed to apply for the course, the committee suggested.

The criteria recommended by the committee for conducting two entrance tests, fulfilling the conditions for all engineering institutes on the PU campus, including UIET, Dr SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology and UIET, Hoshiarpur.

The panel had demanded that the PU VC be authorised to constitute a committee for examining and re-submitting the proposals for increasing in-service seats and additional seats in the self-financed category.

New courses in line

Around 10 courses may be introduced in the coming session, in case the Syndicate accepts the recommendations of the committee. It was suggested that MBA (entrepreneurship) be started at the UBS, in a proposal forwarded by the department’s chairperson in the previous Syndicate meeting. In a yet another proposal, UIHTM chairperson had suggested to introduce a masters degree and PhD programme. The proposal demanded to set off Masters in Tourism and Travel Management (MTTM) and Master in Hospitality Management and Catering Technology (MHMCT) course if some infrastructural support may be given to the institute.

Professor Nandita from the Centre for Swami Vivekananda Studies had suggested that a six-month course in yoga and meditation be introduced at the department.

The Computer Science and Engineering branch at PU’s UIET recommended that a masters course in computer science and Engineering Cyber Security (ME CSE) with 20 seats be introduced. The chairperson of School of Communication Studies, Dr Archana R Singh, too, suggested that a PG Diploma in Radio Production and PG Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication be added to the course list of the department.

Besides, several other courses stand a chance of making it to the list in the upcoming session.

The Chairperson of Department of Evening Studies, Prof Gurpal Singh, has raised a demand for starting BA (Hons) and BCom (Hons) in September, 2018, however, the decision still hangs fire.

EQ cell writes for rights of the disabled 

The issue of rights of persons with disabilities is likely to be discussed at the Syndicate meetring on Saturday. On April 4, coordinator of the university’s Equal Opportunity (EQ) Cell, Dr Sanjeev Gautam, had penned a letter to its Registrar, with a copy of the UGC letter dated January 6, 2017, issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, along with the details of the Act as published in the Gazette of India. According to the letter, the university’s report on to the RPwD Act was to be sent in a month’s time (from the date of issue), positively.  Notified on December 28, 2016, the Act gives effect to the provisions of United Nations Convention for Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to which India is a signatory.

Expert opinion

Prof Rattan Singh, Director of the UILS, stated:  “15 seats reserved for the NRI category at the department of Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital are not supplementary seats. Therefore, as suggested, out of the 15 seats, 10 can be given to self-financed seats and if out of the five seats of the NRI category, any seat remains vacant, it can be converted into general category.”