Striving for excellence

Updated on: Monday, September 28, 2009

It was Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy, former Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University who said that what Kerala, which has witnessed a ‘great leveling’ on account of major social reformation, needs, are “islands of excellence” to lift the system to a new high.

Nearly two decades later, the MG University appears to be moving in this direction by setting up the MG University Centre for Innovative Research and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and has launched its first five-year interdisciplinary MS programme under the aegis of the new centre.

The programme is revolutionary insofar as it seeks to create scientists who also have a deep appreciation of humanities.

“The study of humanities will be an integral part of the curriculum as we believe it necessary for a holistic and gestalt view of Nature,” said Grace Thomas, research officer, UCIPR.

The centre aims to do so through the five-year interdisciplinary integrated MS programme with chemistry/physics/biology specialisation. Eligibility is for Plus Two students who would be selected on a thematic-cum-comprehensive test followed by an interview. The programme will commence this academic year and the last date for submitting applications is September 26. Applications can be downloaded from www.ucipr.com and sent to [email protected]. Candidates who have passed Plus Two with minimum 55 per cent marks can apply. Candidates who are selected can also avail internal part time employment opportunities for which stipends will be paid. These opportunities will be in the areas of operation and maintenance of sophisticated instruments. The curriculum involves classroom teaching by permanent faculty from existing university departments and eminent guest faculty from outside the university; lectures by visiting experts; technology enhanced learning process involving IITs and Central agencies, among other things.

The centre will function under academic and administrative autonomy and will operate through a single-window system, Dr. Thomas said.

The centre will be governed by a 12 member governing council with the Vice-Chancellor. Other members of the council include such eminent personalities like A.D. Damodaran, former director, Regional Research laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, Javed Iqbal (Institute of Life Sciences, Hyderabad), K.R. Srivalsan (IGNOU), M.S. Gopinathan, IISE, CET; Savitha Ladage, HBSCE, Mumbai; Suresh Kumar, Advisor Patent Facilitating Centre, DST, S.D. Samant, UDCT, Mumbai, Mangala Sunder Krishnan, IIT Madras, and N. Chandrakumar, IIT Madras.

Striving for excellence

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