Campus Watch
HPU VC claims poorly implemented RUSA, massive fee hikes, degraded academic standard as his achievements
SHIMLA- Prof ADN Bajpai, who completed five controversial years as vice-chancellor, Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) on May 24, ruled out the restoration of direct elections to the Students Central Association (SCA) and roll back of RUSA and fee hike and said the agitation by students was politically motivated.
Despite decaying academic and campus standards, he expressed his satisfaction about his five-year tenure, and even listed his achievements. He claimed Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), which not only caused trouble to the students but also to the staff, as his achievement and said that HPU was the first university in the country to implement RUSA. Truth is that last five years are, perhaps, the worst period in the history of HP University. The VC implemented RUSA to please his political masters without putting infrastructure and the staff in place. Also, HPU was also the only university to adopt RUSA without considering its feasibility.
He introduced new courses without proper training or deployment of the teachers.
Also Read: No place for HP University in 2016 HRD ranking list of top 100 Universities of India
His policies only brought overburden to staff in university and colleges as he messed up the education system by implementing the RUSA in haste. Massive fee-hikes were made to extract more money from parents when faced with financial crisis, like a private institution usually does. The university recovered about Rs. 4 crore of its financial loss in just one year and all of it was extracted from the pockets of parents of the students, which is completely undemocratic. The students were not responsible for the university’s financial crisis, the administration was. University failed to mobilize its income generating resources and instead went for unjustified fee-hikes. When students protested against it, instead of attending to them, the VC left no stone unturned to crush the protest.
He said the ban on direct, democratic elections to SCA had helped in improving academic atmosphere in the university. The reality is that corruption was crawling into administrative department more swiftly than ever, and the only protest and resistance it faced was from directly selected official student body. Unfortunately, clashes between student organizations gave the administration opportunity to put a ban on student body elections.
Previous Post (2014): HPU campus completely messed up, degraded academic standards fuel student protest
According to him students are now more inclined towards studies. About shortage of staff and vaccant faculty posts, he said the process of the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching employees was underway.
Replying to a question on the areas where achievements of universities have been below the target, the VC expressed his satisfaction.
About another campus of the university planned to come up near Ghanahatti, he said the construction has not yet started.
The VC claimed that the university faced some problems related to examination results under the newly implemented RUSA system, which had been resolved, and results of exams were being declared on time.
He further said, a high-powered committee had been constituted to look into the problems faced by students. However, he didn’t mention why he is unlawfully concealing the report of high-power committee on student fee hike for past two years.
When asked about student unrest, long list of genuine demands, and ongoing chain hunger strike that is about to complete two months now the VC called it student politics.
Asked why HPU did not make it into the list of the top 100 universities in the country in the survey conducted by the UGC, the VC said varsity staff was busy and did not participate in the ranking.
For long time, the VC had been claiming to install biometric system to address the problem of punctuality of the staff, and that the campus will be completely Wi-Fi. But again, he gave assurance about it, like he always did during his tenure of five years,
Campus Watch
Nauni Varsity Scholar Naincy Bags Scholarship to Pursue PhD in France
Solan: Naincy Sagar, an alumna of Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni has bagged a fellowship for pursuing PhD from France. Nancy has reached France and will be pursuing PhD in Forest Genetics from the University of Orléans under INRAE fellowship. INRAE is France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Naincy has completed her BSc Forestry from College of Horticulture and Forestry (COH&F), Neri in 2018 and MSc Forest Biology and Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources from UAS, Dharwad, under ICAR’s National Talent Scheme. Before leaving for France last week, Naincy was working as a Junior Research Fellow in a research project at COH&F, Neri.
She had applied for a PhD with a scholarship in Forest Genetics which was advertised by INRAE. Naincy was successful in the interview and was awarded a fellowship for three years for pursuing PhD at the University of Orléans. During the course of the PhD, she will receive a total scholarship of around Rs 70 lakh along with medical reimbursement. Naincy will be working on forest tree larch species in the Project titled ‘Vigour at what cost? ‘Trade-off’ of hybrid vigour in Larch-Phenological, morphological and physiological determinants of hybrid superiority in Larix X eurolepis’ with a team of 20 scientists of Joint Integrated Biology Research Unit having expertise in genetics, genomics and physiology for the enhancement of tree and forest diversity
Dr. Parvinder Kaushal, Vice-Chancellor of the university spoke to Naincy via web conferencing and congratulated her. Dr. Kaushal, who has also done his doctorate from France, shared some tips and suggestions. He asked Naincy to explore this opportunity to learn about new cultures along with doing research that could help to enhance and conserve forest wealth in the future.
Naincy expressed gratitude towards her father Satya Prakash Sagar (Retd. SDO BSNL) and mother Monika Sagar, who is working as SDO in BSNL for their continuous support for higher studies. She also thanked Vice-Chancellor Dr. Parvinder Kaushal, Dean Dr. Kamal Sharma and Dr. Dushyant Sharma, Project Investigator and all the university staff for their support and guidance. The university administration, Dean of COH&F Neri congratulated Naincy and wished her success.
Campus Watch
HP University Extends College Admission Date for 2021-22 Session Till Oct 25
Shimla-Dates for admissions to undergraduate courses for the session 2021-22 in colleges affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University has been extended, which has come as a relief to not only those students who were seeking fresh enrollments in the first year but also to the students of the second and third year.
The varsity informed that the decision was taken after considering requests received from various students regarding the same.
Now, willing students can apply for enrollment in both government and private colleges till 5 PM, October 25, 2021.
This extension of date would benefit students who recently passed supplementary exams or those students of the second and third-year who had missed admission due to delay in declaration of their previous results.
Campus Watch
UHF Nauni Extends Admission Dates for UG, PG, PhD Till Oct 18
Solan– Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, has extended the last date for applying to various Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral programmes in Horticulture, Forestry, Biotechnology, Agribusiness and Business Management. Applicants can submit their complete online application on the university’s admission portal till 18th October.
The normal seats of BSc (Hons) Horticulture, BSc (Hons) Forestry and B Tech Biotechnology will be filled on the basis of scorecard of ICAR-AIEEA (UG) 2021.
Admissions to MSc, MBA (Agribusiness) and PhD (for normal and self-financing seats) will also be conducted on the scorecard of ICAR AIEEA (PG) and AICE-JRF/SRF respectively. Students who have appeared in the ICAR-AIEEA 2021 for UG and PG, or AICE-JRF/SRF examination and are interested in seeking admission, such students must fill the university online application form before 18th October. Undergraduate aspirants who have not appeared in the ICAR test can however apply for the self-financing seats for B Sc and B Tech Biotechnology programmes run by the university by filling the online application on the university website.
The university has also advised the registered candidates to submit complete online application forms along with online payment acknowledgement slip before the due date. The schedule for online counselling will be announced by the University on the website after the declaration of the ICAR examination result. Application forms other than online mode will not be accepted.