First Sir Syed Lecture held at TISS, Mumbai

Aligarh: The first lecture in the Sir Syed LectureSeries was organized by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) at Mumbai on Monday. 

The talk was delivered by eminent historian and former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Mushirul Hasan on "Voyage to Modernism: Syed Ahmad of Aligarh". 

He spoke about the breadth of Sir Syed's vision and the key role played by him in the educational upliftment of the country in general and the Muslim Renaissance in particular. 

The lecture was followed by a question-answer session. The lecture was attended by students and faculty members of different institutions of Mumbai. The Sir Syed Lecture Series was conceptualized by the students of TISS (several of whom are AMU alumni) to get the local students acquainted with his ideas. 

The lecture series seeks to discuss Sir Syed's thoughts in a theoretically-grounded manner and bring forth his relevance in present times. It also strives to identify new research areas on the workof Sir Syed and to enrich social sciences by arranging academic deliberations on his writings.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/First_Sir_Syed_Lecture_held_at_TISS,_Mumbai_13567/

IIMs trash HRD suggestions on teaching hours, smaller boards

 Faculty bodies at IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Bangalore have passed unanimous resolutions to set aside the reports which suggest reducing the size of IIM boards and societies and asking eachfaculty to teach for 160 hours a year.

Other IIMs are likely to follow suit seeking broader consultation on the proposed reforms.

They have trashed the HRD ministry-appointed committee reports on the new governance structure and teaching load, saying that they are based on incorrect data.

They believe that these recommendations are the outcome of several wrong assumptions andincorrect data and would not allow IIMs to become global leaders. These changes, if implemented, will have a negative impact on the morale of the faculty, IIM-B faculty said in a memorandum submitted to board of governors chairman Mukesh Ambani last week.

They have now called for a fresh panel involvingalumni and eminent academics to create a governance structure for long-term development of IIMs.

A five-member committee headed by IIM-Ranchi chairman R C Bhargava had recommended reducing the size of the IIM boards and societies by almost half, and allowing corporate bodies, individuals and alumni to become members of the IIM society by paying Rs 20 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively.

The IIM-B faculty rejected the idea, saying that it will lead to a major structural change in the ownership of IIMs and would be completely against public interest. They believe that contribution for the society should be more in the nature of developing institutions rather than owning the institutions.

The dons at the elite Bschools have also taken exception to the HRD ministry's decision to fix a minimum teaching load for faculty which will be the same for all IIMs.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Karnataka/IIMs_trash_HRD_suggestions_on_teaching_hours,_smaller_boards_13536/

Panjab varsity to hold first alumni meet on Saturday

 Panjab University (PU), one of the oldest universities in the country that is PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh's alma mater, is organizing its first university-level alumni meet on Saturday.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra will deliver the inaugural address at the meet and several former students are expected to participate.

PU's Dean-Alumni Relations Bhupinder Singh Bhoop said around 225 alumni of 1970 batch and previous ones will be honored on the occasion.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been a former student as well as a faculty member of the economics department in the PU in 1950s and '60s. However, he is unlikely to participate in the event this time.

Various teaching departments of the university will also be holding events to mark the alumni meet.

Panjab University was established in 1882 at Lahore (now in Pakistan). It shifted to its present campus in Chandigarh's Sector 14 in late 1950s. It is now spread over an area of 550 acres in sectors 14 and 25 of Chandigarh.

The university has 75 teaching and research departments and 15 centres and chairs for teaching and research at the main campus located at Chandigarh.

PU has 188 affiliated colleges across Punjab and has three regional centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur. It also has one regional rural centre in Punjab.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Punjab/Panjab_varsity_to_hold_first_alumni_meet_on_Saturday_13542/