Jammu, Nov 30: Today, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha presided over the 35th meeting of the Executive Council of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.
The council discussed a variety of significant academic and administrative matters, including the Career Advancement Promotion for faculty, non-functional promotions for non-teaching staff, strategies to increase enrollment, campus placements, outreach programs, and the promotion of innovation and startups, as well as research, training, and skill development initiatives.
The Lieutenant Governor stressed the need to introduce new courses and revise the current curriculum, focusing on capacity building to address the gap between the demand and supply of skills in various economic sectors.
He stated, “The university must develop a comprehensive strategy to promote innovative programs and courses, such as ‘Design Your Degree,’ Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Management, and Architecture with an emphasis on Urban and Town Planning. We must address the shortage of employable skills and strengthen our School of Languages to promote regional languages and Sanskrit.”
The Executive Council unanimously approved several agenda items presented during the meeting. Discussions also covered curriculum design and academic guidelines in alignment with NEP-2020, the establishment of a Faculty of Medical Sciences under SMVDIME, and other reforms aimed at enhancing the overall quality of the university’s operations.
The chair also received updates on the actions taken since the last meeting, ongoing construction projects, and recent initiatives to bolster the SMVDU Technology Business Incubation Centre.
Prof. (Dr.) Pragati Kumar, Vice Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, presented various agenda items for approval and ratification by the Executive Council.
Attendees of the meeting included Prof. (Dr.) Pragati Kumar, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU; Prof. Umesh Rai, Vice Chancellor of Jammu University; Prof. Nilofer Khan, VC of Kashmir University; Prof. Pankaj Chandra, Vice Chancellor & Chairman of the Board of Management at Ahmedabad University; Prof. A.S.K. Sinha, Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology; Prof. Manoj Singh Gaur, Director of IIT Jammu; Dr. Mandeep Bhandari, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor; Shri Anshul Garg, CEO of SMVDSB; Sh Ajay Kumar Sharma, Registrar of SMVDU; and various other members of the SMVDU Executive Council.
