The Lamp of the Guru’s Wisdom Illuminates-GNDU celebrating its 52nd Foundation Day
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in
Tomorrow is the Foundation Day of Guru Nanak Dev University, a day etched with tradition and history. “It is very important to know where we have come from. On this day we are reminded of how the University was formed 52 years ago and how far we have come as a Higher Education community. The University was established at Amritsar on November 24, 1969 to mark the birth quincentenary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the apostle of universal brotherhood, truthfulness, non-violence, compassion, tolerance, harmony, humanity, strict observance of moral & ethical values in daily life, who is also revered as the founder of Sikhism. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that His teachings and preachings & His own personal life are a perfect example to be emulated by the entire mankind even after about four and half a centuries. And will remain so eternally.
To mark this day, every year on November 24th, scholars from different backgrounds give academic lectures on the philosophy of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and celebrate with great dedication at the different venues with the various activities at the University campus. Major buildings of the University are illuminating with colorful lights to give a festive look. Dr. Karamjeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, Jagat Guru Nanak Dev University, Patiala and Prof. Raghuvendra Tanwar, Professor Emeritus (Modern History) Kurukshetra University & Director, Haryana Academy of History and Culture will deliver academic lecture in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Auditorium of the University at 11:00 am on November 24.
The university in its eventful history has taken long strides in spreading the message of Guru Nanak Dev ji and promoting education in such fields as Science, Arts, Management, Information Technology, Industrial Technology, Environment, Planning and Architecture. To fulfill its commitment, the tuition fee charged from the students of the departments of Guru Nanak Studies and the School of Punjabi Studies has been waived.
The past tenure was one of unexpected change in every sector across the globe & faced many challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. No doubt the whole humanity suffered a lot but at the same time some positivity also happened with negativity all round. Though Guru Nanak Dev University also suffered alongwith other institutions of the world and Covid-19 has been a testing time for educational institutions and Guru Nanak Dev University by accepting the challenge emerged as stronger and trendsetter during its innovative initiatives. Inspite of so many odd challenges, during this year Guru Nanak Dev University attained many achievements. The University’s growth has been astonishing in terms of its research & academic infrastructure, departments, new courses, syllabi & programmes and among recognized institutions.
Under the able guidance of Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Jaspal Singh Sandhu the university not only fought the COVID-19 pandemic challenges, but also organized a large number of offline and online international and national conferences, seminars, symposiums and other academic functions successfully to enrich the academic world. Due to Covid-19 the teachers of the university engaged the students through online/offline classes so that their studies might not suffer. The examinations for the final year students of all the subjects were conducted online as well as offline well in time which submitted timely declaration of the results. The admission process too was conducted online, with an increased number of student intake for most of the courses as compared to previous year.
The University digitally launched online programmes/courses started for the Punjabi diaspora settled across the globe. The University initiated admissions for UGC entitled/approved Online Courses for Punjabi Diaspora under newly established Directorate of Online Studies. These courses are started by keeping in view the demand of Punjabi Diaspora settled outside Punjab especially in foreign countries. UGC had granted permission to start courses to 37 Universities out of the 981 Universities of the country and the Guru Nanak Dev University is the only State Public University in the Punjab to have been given this honour by UGC.
Guru Nanak Dev University signed various MoUs with prestigious institutions during this tenure. Among high ranking & ratings, this year Guru Nanak Dev University improved its position in the National Institute Ranking Frame (NIRF) – 2020 Rankings, as per the new ranking, Guru Nanak Dev University was placed 51st among all the central, public and private universities in India. This University now ranks 18th among the State funded universities of India. Participating in the QS IGAUGE Rating System , it has been rated in Diamond category in the field of ‘research, faculty quality and infrastructure’.
Regular updation of course curricula to lead high quality education and high employability of its programmes have earned the university Gold rating in ‘Employability’ criteria of agency. GNDU is also committed to its social responsibilities and hence keeps on organising various training events and awareness campaigns regularly which helped it to bag Gold rating. Overall the university is positioned in the Gold category for all the parameters adopted by the QS IGAUGE Rating System. Guru Nanak Dev University has been placed amongst top 9% universities of the world & among the top 10 state public universities of India in the Centre for World University Ranking (CWUR)- a leading evaluation agency in the world of higher education, which has been engaged in grading the top ranking universities world-wide on the basis of stringent objective parameters since 2012. The ranking list contains a total number of twenty thousand universities from all over the world, thereby, making CWUR list the largest academic ranking of the global universities. In “The Week–Hansa Research Survey-2020”, the University happens to be the only university of Punjab to have bagged a position in the Top-10 Public State Multidisciplinary universities with the ranking position of 7. As far as North India is concerned the total universities which were taken into consideration i.e. Central, State and Private Universities, Guru Nanak Dev University stands at 8th position. Among the State Public universities in North India, it stands at the top position immediately after Panjab University, Chandigarh which is an inter-state corporate and funded by Government of India. The University adjudged as the only State Government University in North India to bag top position amongst higher education institutes for “India Today Ranking 2020”. No higher education institute of Jammu, Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan or Chandigarh could attain any position even among the first 35 positions in the State Public Universities imparting education in arts, science and technology disciplines. Overall, GNDU is ranked 20th among all central, public and private Universities in the country. However, it has retained its position at 11thplace among the State Universities of India in 2020. High quality research has improved the H-index of the university from 64 to 118 with top 10 percent highly cited papers in Scopus.
The University has also decided to start conferring the degrees of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.), Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) and Doctors of Laws (LL.D.). It is worth mentioning here that D.Sc., D.Litt. and L.L.D. are the highest research degrees a university can award. There were many other remarkable achievements of the University during this year. 13 scientists of Guru Nanak Dev University have been listed in World ranking of top 2% scientists in an independent study conducted by the scholars of Stanford University. In this study the scientists of Stanford University created a database of more than 100,000 top scientists of the world and made rankings on the basis of standardized citation indicators such as citations, H-index, co-authorship and a composite indicator. Two Shooters i.e. Divyanshu Singh Panwar & Ashwrya Partap Singh of Guru Nanak Dev University bagged medals in the ISSF World Cup 2021 at Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi during this time period.
The sacred forest established this year in the university was dedicated to the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. 28 percent shady trees, 24 percent fruit trees, 24 percent flower trees and 24 percent medicinal plants are being sown in an area of two acres for this sacred forest. The University compiled a handbook on “Plant Diversity of GNDU Botanical Garden”. A campaign to plant 2500 different varieties of saplings was also launched at the University Campus. With grants received this year from MHRD, activities relating to establishing the Centre for Interfaith Studies at University campus also got a boost.
More than 80 percent students placed successfully by 92 Companies during 2020-22 (Still on) on high salary packages. The University is one of the best choice for employer organisations because of the high academic standards and various academic reforms initiatives taken by the university. A large number of companies have confirmed their participation in the near future to recruit the students of the university through placements drives.
Keeping in view the health of the Faculty, Non-teaching staff and Students of the university in the current COVID-19 pandemic, the University has taken a novel initiative of setting up its own immunization centre with the vaccines very graciously provided by the office of Civil Surgeon, Amritsar. After the establishment of Centre for Special Educators & Online Courses the University is planning for Department of Film and Television Studies, Division of Dietetics and Nutrition under CARI and Artificial Intelligence.
In the Green Initiatives, 14 seated e-carts are being provided free of cost to students, in the Massive tree plantation drives more than 40000 trees implanted, Zero discharge campus, a Rooftop Solar Energy Plant of 3 Mega Watt capacity under Government of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) installed without any financial burden of installation on GNDU.Saving of ~Rs. 1.08 Crore per annum in electricity charges. Installation of HOTSPOTS throughout the campus to facilitate students with high speed internet connection, Introducing E-Office for the movement of files using paperless filling system. Two recording studios, Under “Khelo India” scheme of Govt. of India, Two Academies – Fencing and Archery, Two Khelo India Centres – Handball and Hockey, 4 Centres of Excellence for Athletics, Fencing, Cycling and Swimming.
Guru Nanak Dev University, with its commitment to excellence, has its roadmap ready for continuing as one of the best universities in the country. All these achievements has been possible with the innovative guidance of Vice Chancellor Prof. Jaspal Singh Sandhu, faculty members, students, researchers and administrative staff of our university.
November 23,2021
