Srinagar, Mar 23: The third Academic Council meeting of Cluster University Srinagar was held on Saturday.
The meeting was held at Taseer Hall of Amar Singh College and was chaired by Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Qayyum Husain. The special invitees who attended the meeting included Prof. Rajat Sandhir of Punjab University, Prof. Mehmood Ahmad Khan and Prof. Khalid Fazli of Kashmir University. Members from Cluster University Jammu, including Registrar, Dr. Jatinder Khajuria, Dr. Naveen Anand, Dr. Geetanjali Rana, Dr. Sanjay Kumar and Dr. Sindhu Kapoor attended the meeting in the online mode.
Others present on the occasion included Dean Academic Affairs, Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Lone; Deans of various faculties, Principals of constituent and affiliated colleges and coordinators of various integrated programmes.
Registrar, Dr. Khurshid Ahmad Mir briefed the members about the various items on agenda, including the matters meant for ratification and those proposed for consideration in the higher decision making bodies. The meeting began by confirming the minutes of the meeting of the second academic council which was held in October last year.
Among the items placed before the Academic Council for discussion and consideration included establishment of Residential Coaching Academy, Centralized Instrumentation Facility & Innovation Centre and Skill Development Centre.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Qayyum said the Academy will provide coaching and other facilities to the students so that they are able to compete in the civil services and other competitive examinations at all India level.
He also clarified that the matter will be taken up with the Higher Education Department for requisite modalities.
Regarding the establishment of ‘Sophisticated Instrumentation Facility and Innovation Centre’, the Vice Chancellor said, “In the National Education Policy there is great stress on research work and in order to provide better facilities to students, Cluster University has proposed to establish a well-equipped Instrumentation Facility and Innovation Centre at its Gogji Bagh campus. The matter will also be pursued with the Higher Education Department.”
Regarding the establishment of Skill Development Centre, Prof. Qayyum said one of the initiatives of NEP-2020 is the skill development to be integrated in the mainstream education.
The proposal to convert Government Degree College, Hyderpora as College of Commerce and Management was also put before the council. “Once the Higher Education Department agrees to the proposal, the university will subsequently regulate the admission of students in the subjects of Commerce, Economics, Management and Tour & Travel Management,” Registrar, Dr. Khurshid said.
With NEP and new academic calendar in vogue, the university has decided to replace the IG Programmes with two-year PG programmes from the ensuing session.
The items put forth for ratification also included regulations governing four year undergraduate programmes, regulations governing the establishment and operation of Academic Bank of Credits, adoption of syllabus, course/credit structure for the students of Semesters I and II admitted under NEP-2020, introduction of Persian, Music and Public Administration as a major subject at UG level and re-structuring of the faculties of the Cluster University Srinagar.
