Education, Careers & Professional News
Conquering new frontiers
Source
toi
Date
2005-06-15
Information
Breathing free from colonial shackles, young India sowed the seeds of Nehruvian thoughts of a modern India on the rugged terrain of the Aravallis. Forty years, hence, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is the face of India in the global educational map.
What is JNUs future focus, vis-a-vis its strategy for the 21 centurys emerging educational market?
JNU is shaping up remarkably well to cater to the changing requirements of higher education for the 21st century. In terms of tracking the pulse of the education market, we are fully aware that the 21st centurys concept of education is to produce students who are aware of the emerging global issues and technological changes. All schools at JNU, whether they are social sciences, humanities, international relations, languages or sciences, are gearing up to face the challenges in tune with the requirements of 21st century.
What will be the focus areas in the academic restructuring?
The faculties of the School of Environmental Sciences are doing work in areas, of which human genomics is the most notable. In agriculture, genomics will lead to modified crops, an emerging area. We have recently launched a new centre for Law and Governance to encompass social, economic and political issues, alongwith addressing issues right from the grassroots to the highest level. In the area of economics, we will be dealing with the transformation of Indian economy in an era of globalisation.
There will be new thrust and challenges on issues like international trade in commodity and services as well. In sociology, we have launched an ambitious programme, `global studies, in partnership with Albert Ludwig University, Germany. In the area of federal relations, our Centre for Political Science is pursuing similar initiatives. We have refurbished our Centre for Philosophy, too, and the centre is soon going to start an M Phil programme in Philosophy.
Research and Development (R & D) is the core of a world-class institute.
Where does JNU stands in this area?
Research and Development is one of the most important areas for an university and we have established our mark in areas like biotechnology, bioinformatics and environmental studies. Similarly, another very ambitious programme is coming up in environmental sciences. Prof Rajamani has, recently, launched a project involving many countries of this region. This project is trying to look into sub-surface soil conditions, which will take cognisance of what is happening to the water level, the quantity and quality of water and land and rock formations. Realising that the scientific community, apart from developing patents, should manage and market its products as well, we have created a Patent Management Cell as well.