India's first dedicated varsity for humanities

Updated on: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

New Delhi: Come August 2009, Delhi will have country's first dedicated university for humanities. The Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD), the second state varsity of Delhi will be India's first university solely devoted to social sciences and humanities.

The AUD was established by the Government of Delhi in July, 2008. The AUD has already started academic activities by offering PG Diploma in development studies from last year.

Three PG programmes will be offered by AUD from this year.

AUD will offer MA in development studies, psychology, and environment and development from this year that will be followed by UG and law programmes in 2010.

The university will have 10 schools and five centres. The university envisages a teacher-student ratio of 1:15.

The varsity is presently functioning from a temporary location in Sector-9, Dwarka. The campus will shift to its new campus by 2011.

By 2013, the university plans to have 15 interdisciplinary schools and centres, a community of 4,000 students, of which 1,200 will have hostel accommodation.

About 1,000 students will pursue post graduation and research. There will be a core faculty of 200 teachers and 50 professional staff.

The varsity has planned to propose a differential fee structure, so that no eligible student is denied a seat because of his/ her inability to pay. This fee structure would be based on per-capita operational cost of the programme, economic and social background of the student and expected level of employment after graduation.

The university is also planning to recruit faculties on the lines of Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), whereby a faculty will have the option of moving elsewhere after 4 years and being able to join the university again later.

Shyam Menon vice-chancellor AUD said, "We are going to be an innovative public university. At present innovation is practiced only in private universities. We want to demonstrate a hybrid model of public and private initiative and respond to the evolving societal demands. So, while our education will not be subsidised, it won't be as low as DU or as high as the private universities."

For more information visit : educationtimes.com

India's first dedicated varsity for humanities

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