Srinagar, Sept 10: The ‘Meet the Eminent’ event organised by the Centre of Distance and Online Learning, University of Kashmir, was held in the Conference Hall of the Centre as part of the Centre’s initiative to inspire and engage learners, faculty and stakeholders by offering them an opportunity to interact with eminent academicians who have contributed to the field of Distance and Open Learning in India.
As per a statement issued here, Prof. M. Aslam, former Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, who compiled his professional journey of 47 years in the form of “My Professional Journey – A Coffee Table Presentation”, was invited to initiate the series. It was his earnest desire to share the presentation with his professional friends and well-wishers, and the Centre recognised his visionary leadership at IGNOU and lifelong dedication to advancing inclusive and flexible education. The function was presided over by Prof. Afzal Qadri, Former Dean, Law, while Prof. Tariq Ahmad Chishti, Director of the Centre, delivered the welcome address. The event was coordinated by Dr. Aneeda Jan. Eminent scholars including Nisar Geelani, Sheikh Monzoor, G.M. Zahid, Sadat Khaki, Prof. Irshad Ahmed, Prof. M. Shafi, Dr. Rizvi and Dr. Shahnawaz were among the attendees. In his presentation, Prof. Aslam recalled several landmark contributions during his professional career. These included the enrolment figures for January and July 2014 admission cycles crossing 7,22,000 through fresh and re-registration; clearing a backlog of 35,60,365 sets of self-learning materials in three months; signing MoUs with Kendriya Vidyalaya and five North-Eastern states to train 24,000 and 36,538 teachers respectively; and raising the number of special study centres in jails from 60 to 94 during 2012–2014 to provide free education to inmates. He also highlighted a series of awards conferred on him, including the Academic Excellence Award by Amity University, Professional Excellence Award, Social Responsibility Award and the prestigious Commonwealth President’s Excellence Award at the second PAN Commonwealth Conference in Brunei Darussalam in 1999. Prof. Aslam further referred to his many authored works, making special mention of his book “Panchayati Raj in India”, a best-seller with thousands of copies sold and a five-star rating on Amazon.com. The event concluded with an engaging interaction session, leaving the audience enriched and inspired by Prof. Aslam’s dedication, vision and lifelong contribution to higher education in general, and open and distance learning in particular.
