 HIGHER EDUCATION

3.01. At the university stage, the Ministry of Education and Youth Services is mainly concerned with (a) the five Central Universities of Aligarh, Banaras, Delhi, Visva-Bharati and Jawaharlal Nehru; (b) the institutions, 'deemed to be universities' under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act; (c) coordination and maintenance of standards of higher education as laid down in the Constitution through the University Grants Commission (UGC); (d) the Rural Institutes of Higher Education; and (e) a few other programmes of higher education.

A. CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES

3.02. Aligarh Muslim University: During the year, the univer- sity's enrolment in its regular day classes was 8187 (6933 boys and 1254 girls). Manned by 609 teachers, the university has at present 8 faculties each comprising departments as given below : (i) Arts-8, (ii) Social Sciences-8; (iii) Commerce-1, (iv) Law-1; (v) Theology-2; (vi) Science-7; (vii) Engineering and Technology-5; and (viii) Medicine-15. In addition to the enrolment in day classes, the universities had an enrolment of 784 in the evening classes in the four faculties of arts, social sciences, commerce and engineering and technology. The evening classes are getting very popular, particularly in the postgraduate diploma course in business management. There are 20 teachers running the evening classes.

3.03. Among the significant developments, mention may be made of the buildings for the new workshop of the University Polytechnic. Built on an aggregate floor area of about 30,000 sq. ft. it has also been equipped during the year. The Women's

Polytechnic which was established in 1966, moved to its new buildings for its classes and hostel in July 1970. A special feature of this polytechnic is its production centre in costume designs & dress-making and electronics engineering for the post-course professional training of girls. A full-fledged computer centre is in the process of being established with an IBM computing system, sanctioned by the UGC, to serve the needs of all the academic and administrative sections of the University.

3.04. A number of symposia and seminars were held by the various departments. They are: (i) an international symposium on Medieval Indian History by the History Department; (ii) a symposium sponsored by the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu, organised by the Urdu Department; (iii) a seminar on Bio-Chemistry Teaching and Research in Indian Universities under the auspices of the Chemistry Department; (iv) Wordsworth Bicentenary by the English Department; and (v) an International Gondwana symposium under the chairmanship of Dr. W. D. West.

3.05. Banaras Hindu University: A number of steps have been taken during the period for expanding and improving not only the teaching facilities of the university but also the amenities for its students. To introduce and develop postgraduate courses in the College of Medical Sciences during the Fourth Plan, the UGC has sanctioned a non-recurring grant to the tune of Rs. 34 lakh for equipment, buildings and books and journals and a recurring grant of Rs. 16.10 lakh for teaching and non-teaching staff and scholarships. The process of filling up the approved teaching and non-teaching posts is already on and the needed equipment and books are being made available. With the completion of the envisaged expansion programme, it is hoped that the various training programmes and research activities of the college will be carried out effectively and satisfactorily. The proposal for the creation of six additional departments in the Faculty of Medical Sciences is being considered by the Visitor. They are (i) Department of Biophysics, (ii) Department of Orthopaedics, (iii) Department of Anaesthesiology,

(iv) Department of Dentistry, (v) Department of Psychiatry and (vi) Department of Otolaryngology (ENT).

3.06. Another notable development has been a grant from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to the tune of Rs. 22 lakh for the improvement of the Faculty of Agriculture during the Fourth Plan period. The University has proposed to create two additional departments under the Faculty of Agriculture, viz., (i) Department of Horticulture, and (ii) Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology. The proposal is receiving the consideration of the visitor.

3.07. It has been proposed to split the present Faculty of Arts into two faculties, namely, (i) Faculty of Social Sciences consisting of the Departments of Economics, History, Psychology, Sociology and Political Science, and (2) Faculty of Art, consisting of the Departments of English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Philosophy, Arabic, Persian and Urdu, Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Indian Philosophy and Religion, Foreign Languages, Indian Languages, Indo-Sumerian Studies and Library Science. Meanwhile the existing two departments, viz., the Department of Indian Philosophy and Religion and the Department of Philosophy have been merged into one named Department of Philosophy.

3.08. Amenities for students on the basis of the recommenda- tion of the University Grants Commission Committee appointed to look into the question of amenities for students, a grant of Rs. 50 lakh has been sanctioned by the Commission for the implementation of a number of useful schemes. The most extensive among them are construction of two hostel buildings, one for 212 students and another for 68 students, construction of warden's quarters and extension of the cafeteria building. Besides. various urgently needed essential facilities in the existing hostels have also been provided for. The estimated expenditure on the hostels alone works out to about Rs. 27.60 lakh, and work on the new buildings, etc. has already started.

3.09. The Joint Students Affairs Committee of the Hostels and Colleges has solved many difficulties faced by the students and the recently introduced students counselling system will also go a long way to settle most of the problems of the students. In addition to the deans of the faculties, principals of colleges and the Director of the Institute of Technology, seven students' representatives have been taken from amongst the members of the Executive Council of the Students Union in the Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Committee set up to tackle the problems faced by the University. This has proved helpful in the solution of a large number of day-to-day student problems.

3.10. University of Delhi: Dr. K. N. Raj, who took over as Vice- Chancellor of the University of Delhi in October 1969 resigned from his office on September 30, 1970. The President, in his capacity as the Visitor of the University, has appointed Dr. Sarup Singh as Vice- Chancellor for five years from January 7, 1971. The year under report saw great expansion in its enrolment and extension of its facilities as it witnessed new strides in the improvement and strengthening of its various departments and the programmes conducted by them.

3.11. Expansion and Extension: In August, 1970, the University had 59,210 regular students on its rolls, in addition to 15,319 registered with the School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education and 2,700 non-collegiate women students on the rolls of the Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board. This year, the University has permitted private candidates to enrol themselves as external students. Their number is 7,594. Another major development has been the opening the South Centre for Postgraduate Teaching in English, Commerce and Hindi located in the premises of Sri Venkateswara College, Dhaula Kuan. Further, the evening classes for the LL.B. 1st Year are now held in the rented premises of P.G.D.A.V. College. Another significant step has been the transfer of science honours teaching to the colleges. Out of a total of 77,237 students (excluding external students 30,751 or nearly 40 per cent are women students. Postgraduate students in

various courses number 8,633. Students doing honours in arts and commerce number 11,209, while 2,484 students are doing science honours. 1,482 are working for Ph.D. degree. 1,555 are in the Medical Faculty and 1,392 in the Faculty of Technology. During the year, 3 new colleges, namely, Gian Devi Sarwan College, Mahila Mahavidyala, and Rao Tula Ram College have been started making a total of 47 colleges. Six Colleges ate running evening classes.

3.12. Improvement Programme: The existing six Centres of Advanced Studies in the Departments of Sociology, Economics, Physics & Astro- Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology continued their activities satisfactorily. Subject to availability of funds it is proposed to construct a women's hostel and follow up some building programmes, like the extension of the Library, Music Faculty and Arts Faculty buildings. The strengthening of the Departments of Hindi, Mathematics, Political Science, Geology and English by increasing the faculty strength at the professorial and the reader's levels, is contemplated.

3.13. The University will receive IBM 360/44 computer system under a grant from the Ford Foundation. Under another Ford Foundation Grant of $ 450,000, a Faculty Exchange Programme has been launched. Out of this, a sum of $ 75,000 has been set apart for inviting distinguished visiting professors from abroad. Professor Vogel and Professor Lichtenberg have thus accepted invitation to join the Departments of Anthropology and Physics. The procurement from abroad of such equipment for science departments as are not available inside the country under still another Ford Foundation grant of $ 1.5 million is proceeding smoothly. Mention may be made of an electron microscope for the Department of Botany. It is also, proposed to set up a Central Electronics Workshop.

3.14. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Act, 1966, was brought into force on the

22nd April, 1969. The Institute of Russian Studies and the School of International Studies were merged with the University on October 11, 1969 and June 5, 1970 respectively. The former has been renamed the Centre of Russian Studies (in the School of Foreign Languages) and the latter the School of International Studies. All the major authorities of the University have by now been constituted. The Visitor nominated the, first members of the Academic Council on July 2, 1970 and of the Court on September 15, 1970. The present enrolment in the University is: B.A. (Hons.)-162; Pre-doctoral-42; and Ph.D.-162. Six Schools of Studies, namely, Schools of Social Sciences, Foreign Languages, Life Sciences, Computer and System Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Creative Arts have been established. in the School of Social Sciences, seven centres, namely, (1) Centre for the Study of Political Development, (2) Centre for the Study of Regional Development, (3) Centre of Historical Studies, (4) Centre for Studies in Science Policy, (5) Centre for the Study of Social Systems, (6) Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, and (7) Centre of Educational Studies have been created. The first four centres have already started functioning and they will admit students from, the academic year starting in July, 1971 for degrees at various levels.

3.15. In the School of Foreign Languages, a Centre of French Studies was started during the year. The French Embassy has transferred all language equipment and books from its French Centre at Hyderabad to this Centre and the French Government has lent the services of two teachers who are engaged in framing curricula for a master's degree in French language and literature. In the Centre of Russian Studies, its undergraduate programmes have been expanded to include history, geography, economics and political science. One-year (part-time) diploma course in Russian was introduced from the academic year 1970-71. The Centre is currently engaged in working out the details of a postgraduate course in Russian Language and Literature to which students would be admitted from July, 1971 session.

3.16. In the School of International Studies, two more centres, namely, the Centre for Disarmament Studies and the Centre for Studies in Diplomacy have been created. The Department of American Studies has initiated programmes of studies of Latin American countries. The School undertook the training of twelve Indian Foreign Service probationers in international relations for a 3-month period beginning 1st November, 1970. With a UGC grant, the, School organised a workshop in March, 1971 to provide opportunities to university teachers for facilitating exchange of views on problems of international relations and allied subjects.

3.17. A National Competition for the Design of the Master Plan of the University was organised during the year. Sixty-eight senior architects and town-planners from almost all regions of India and from abroad submitted entries. The Board of Assessors, with Sir Robert Mathew, formerly, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, as one of its members, adjudged the design by Shri C. P. Kukreja as the best. Shri Kukreja has accordingly been appointed the architect and work on campus development is expected to start shortly.

3.18. Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan: Dr. Kalidas Bhattacharya, Vice-Chancellor, having resigned, Dr. Pratual Chandra Gupta, M.A. Ph.D., formerly, Professor and Head of the Department of History and the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Jadavpur University, took over charge as Vice-Chancellor with effect from August 23, 1970.

3.19. Among the developments during the year, mention may be made of the introduction of the one-year certificate course in library science from the 1970-71 academic session. Quite a few new buildings have been constructed during the year. Among them reference may be made to the. Central Library buildings, laboratory buildings for botany and zoology, library building for the Centre of Advanced Study in Philosophy and the library building at Sriniketan.

B. INSTITUTIONS DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITIES

3.20. Of the 10 institutions declared as 'deemed' universities under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 so far, one, namely, the Indian School of International Studies was merged with the Jawaharlal Nehru University in June, 1970. The remaining nine 'deemed' universities are as follows:

(1) Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

(2) Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

(3) Gurukul Kangri Vishvavidyalaya, Hardwar

(4) Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

(5) Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad

(6) Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi

(7) Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay

(8) Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

(9) Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad

With the exception of the Indian Agricultural Research institute, New Delhi, and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, all the other 'deemed' universities are in receipt of maintenance grants on cover-the-deficit basis from the Ministry.

C. UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION

3.21. Growth and Expansion: The pace of growth and expansion in higher education has been extremely rapid. The student enrolment rose from 17.29 lakh in 1965-66 to 27.93 lakh in 1969-70. The estimated enrolment for 1970-71 is 31 lakh. The average rate of increase since 1965-66 is thus about 13 per cent per annum. From 20 universities in 1947, the number rose to 83 by December, 1970 excluding 9 institutions deemed to, be universities; the number of college,, rose from 2,572 in 1965-66 to 3,297 in 1969-70, while the corresponding estimated figure for 1970-71 is 3,450, thus registering an average increase of 175 per annum. The teaching staff in university

departments and colleges rose from 84,676 in 1965-66 to, 1,19,052 in 1969-70, an over-all increase of about 40 per cent during the period, while the strength of teaching staff in 1970-71 would be about 1,33,400. To cope with this extraordinary growth and expansion within the resources available, the Commission has been making planned and concerted efforts so as to meet the challenge of expansion and the needs for maintaining and improving standards.

3.22. New Universities and Centres of Postgraduate Studies: The Commission has, however, accepted proposals for the estab-new university has to be considered in relation to the availability of the essential resources, and the contribution that the proposed university would make in raising the quality and standards of education and that no university should be established without prior consultation with and the concurrence of the Commission. The Commission has, however, accepted proposals for the establishment of university centres of postgraduate studies at nine places, namely, Anantapur (Sri Venkateswara. University), Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli (Madras University), Gulbarga (Karnatak University), Guntur (Andhra University), Mangalore (Mysore University), Rohtak and Simla (Punjab University), and Warangal (Osmania University). According to an earlier decision to review the functioning of the institutions deemed to be universities, review committees have been appointed in respect of the Birla. Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and the Gurukul Kangri Vishvavidyalaya, Hardwar, while similar committees on the Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, have submitted their reports.

3.23. Grants to Universities: The programmes for the deve- lopment of teaching and research formulated by the universities, have already been examined and discussed with the universities concerned, by visiting committees appointed by the Commission. The total allocation for development programmes of the universities and institutions 'deemed' to be universities excluding those relating to engineering and technology, amounts to about Rs. 54

crore for the period 1966-67 to 1973-74. The emphasis during the Fourth Plan is largely on consolidating and improving quality, developing centres of research and postgraduate studies, strengthening science education, providing library and laboratory facilities and amenities for students. The development grants during 1969-70 amounted to Rs. 1135.12 lakh, the break-up being: Science Rs. 360.56 lakh; Humanities and Social Sciences Rs. 171.74 lakh; Engineering and Technology Rs. 268.14 lakh and Miscellaneous (like accommodation, amenities, etc. ) Rs. 334.68 lakh. Against this, during 1970-71, till the end of December 1970, such grants amounted to Rs. 670.62 lakh. Special grants ranging between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 were also made available for research, not ordinarily covered under development schemes.

3.24. Centres of Advanced Study: Under a programme approved by the Commission, 30 carefully selected university departments (17 in science subjects and 13 in the humanities and social sciences), function as centres of advanced study in specialised fields, on an all-India basis. An additional academic staff of 51 professors, 83 readers, 76 research associates, 100 senior and 153 junior research fellows was approved for the centres to enable them to strengthen and diversify their teaching and research programmes. In 1969-70, over 700 scholars were engaged in research at different centres of advanced study, and more than 600 research publications were produced by their academic staff, besides holding a number of seminars and symposia in specialised fields.