58th Foundation Day of Punjabi University-World Second Uni named after language
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Patiala
Punjabi University, Patiala is the second University in the world to be named after a language, the first being Hebrew University of Israel. Punjab Assembly established Punjabi University, Patiala under the Punjab Act No. 35 of 1961. Established on this date on April 30, 1962 in the erstwhile princely state of Patiala with the main objective of furthering the cause of Punjabi language, art and literature, Punjabi University has since evolved into the largest University in the state. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the then President of India laid foundation of Punjabi University on June 24, 1962. He preached, “The institutes of higher education share the burden of nation-building in a critically important sense. Our aim is a strong, free and democratic India where every citizen has an equal place and full opportunity of growth. In this task, a vast responsibility rests on our universities.
The University has not only contributed immensely to the development of literature and culture but has also emerged as a key institution for imparting teaching and for carrying out research in life sciences, physical sciences, medicine, engineering and technology, business studies, law, social sciences, languages, education, information sciences, and arts and culture. Ensuring quality education has been on top of the agenda of this University, which has done exceedingly well on the parameters of quality in higher education prescribed by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It is a matter of satisfaction that NAAC has awarded the University ‘Five Star’ grade in the first cycle (2002-07) and ‘A’ grade in the second (2008-13) and the third (2016-23) cycles. It is the only Government University in Punjab which hosted prestigious 91st Indian Science Congress in the year 2004.
The University started working from its present lush green, pollution free, 316 acres campus since 1965.Initially University jurisdiction area was fixed as the 16 km radius having only 9 colleges. In 1969, it grew into an affiliating university, with 43 colleges affiliated to it. It has been untiringly fulfilling the requirements of a large part of Punjab, mainly the Malwa region, through more than 270 affiliated colleges, Nine neighbourhood campuses, 12 constituent colleges and six regional centres.
Over the time since its inception, the University has evolved into a multi-faceted and multi-faculty educational institution for the promotion of higher education and research in Humanities, Arts, Sciences, Engineering Languages, Technology and many more. Spread over 600 acres of land, its 1500+ teachers are imparting instruction and guidance to nearly 14,000+ students in a multi-faceted, multi-pronged and multi-faculty environment comprising 70+ Teaching and Research Departments/Chairs on its Campus,
The University’s performance in sports and games has been equally unmatched. It has the distinction of winnings 10 times (and six timesin a row) the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy awarded by Government of India for promoting competitive sports at the University level to the Best Performing University.
Research Centre for Punjabi Language Technology, Punjabi University, Patiala has carried out number of collaborative research projects for the technical development of Punjabi Language with national institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, IIT Karagpur, IIT Gauhati, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Allahabad, ISI Kolkata, CDAC, Pune, CDAC, Noida, IISc, Bangalore, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad and MS University, Baroda.
Till to date 22 + patents have been registered and accepted. 11 research journals are being published by the University. Around 94 awards have been bestowed upon the University faculty by duly recognizing their research. Large number of faculty members is on editorial boards of national and international journals.
The university has undertaken the responsibility of maintaining the estate of Norah Richards at Andretta, Himachal Pradesh. Arrangements have been made for faculty members and students who wish to carry out study and research in the fields of theatre and television. The university manages Balbir Singh Sahitya Kendra at Dehradun, the capital city of the Uttarakhand. There is a rich library with rare books and manuscripts bequeathed by Bhai Vir Singh, Balbir Singh and Prof Puran Singh, the doyens of Punjabi literature.
Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Central Library is a hub of academic and research activities. It stocks more than 415,000 books and subscribes to several hundred journals. The latest books are added regularly. The library is kept open for 360 days of the year from 8.15 a.m. to 8.15 p.m. The library has a reading hall, which has a capacity for 400 readers. A separate hall for using the personal books and a Reading Room has been provided at the ground floor. One night Reading Room remains open from 8.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m
Punjabi Univeristy Vice-Chancellors, since its inception
The University was fortunate in having a galaxy of scholars and academic administrators as its Vice-Chancellors. These included
- Bhai Jodh Singh
- Sardar Kirpal Singh Narang
- Inderjit Kaur Sandhu
- Amrik Singh
- S.S. Johl
- Bhagat Singh
- H.K. Manmohan Singh
- Joginder Singh Puar
- Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia
- Swaran Singh Boparai, Kirti Chakra, Padma Shri
- Jaspal Singh
- B.S. Ghuman
