The Jawaharlal Nehru University on Tuesday received the approval of Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for the funding Rs 455.02 crores to set up new academic buildings, research centres, Advanced Animal Research Facility, and installation of integrated and unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
JNU Vice-chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said: "The funds allotted by HEFA shall be utilised for the construction of hostels for students and researchers of School of Engineering and Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Academic Complex Buildings for the School of Engineering, Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management & Entrepreneurship, Trans-Disciplinary Academic Research, Advanced Animal Research Facility, Advanced Instrumentation Research Facility, Incubation Centre for start-up companies, Special Centre for E-Learning, Lecture Hall Complex and setting up of integrated and unified education ERP system in the University."
However, the JNU Teachers' Association doesn't seem to be quite pleased with the news. "JNUTA has always opposed HEFA financing and for good reasons. Teachers of JNU overwhelmingly voted against it in the referendum held in August 2018. As can be seen, this is a replacement of public funding for infrastructure development with loans whose terms cannot possibly be better than grants where no repayment obligation exists. Further, a part of this financing will also be actually directed towards making JNU the instrument of helping the Government shirk its responsibility to invest in education accessible to all - by promoting online education and falsely selling the idea that it is a substitute for regular teaching-learning," Dr Surajit Mazumdar, Secretary, JNUTA.
Recently, various new schools and special centres have been established in JNU. There is also an urgent need for hostel facilities to accommodate students and researchers of these new schools/centres. JNU has started Atal Incubation Centre and three companies are already incubating. For this purpose, it has already registered the Incubation Centre as a Section 8 company and aspires to incubate 100 companies, which requires state of the art infrastructure.
The ERP will ensure that all academic and administrative processes are totally operated using online means and in an integrated manner. This will surely make all the processes in the University efficient and time-bound, an official release from the varsity said.
Approximately, 1.3 lakh candidates apply for JNU entrance examination, however, JNU admits only about 2000 students every year. The special centre for E-learning shall impart education by offering online degree programs to many such students who could not be admitted in JNU. These students can be benefitted by the expertise of JNU faculty. This is also in tune with the objectives of the National Education Policy of increasing the gross enrolment ratio. JNU VC further added that the new Advanced Instrumentation Research Facility (AIRF) and Advanced Animal Research Facility shall increase the research capability of the University and also be made available for other institutions of the country as National Facility. Advanced Animal Research Facility will be useful for carrying out research on communicable, non-communicable and rare diseases including infectious agents such as novel Coronavirus.
The Vice-chancellor added that the construction of new buildings and facilities would begin soon.
