New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is all set to launch new centers to meet the growing demand of the academic world. This initiative will be effective by July 2010. Some will be extensions of existing departments, while the others will offer independent degree courses at Masters, M Phil and PhD level
JNU’s noteworthy initiative includes the Media Study Research Centre, which is not to be baffled with media schools and universities that offer degree courses.The focus of the centre, which has been approved by UGC, will be at a higher level. B B Bhattacharya, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, said that it will be a centre where specialist with a social science background can study media behaviour, sociopolitical nuances of media-society relationship and so on. The centre will offer M Phil and PhD degrees.
There will be no classroom teaching, as the University intends to create a free flowing ambience of academic freedom, where students are not swamped down by imposing restrictions. However, some lectures will be conducted on the basic structure of media methodology, comparison between a democratic and authoritarian country. Moreover, the academic approach will be entirely research oriented.
JNU will also establish an Informal Business Study Centre, which will offer masters degree. Bhattacharya mentions that the need for such a centre was felt, because despite the growing number of B-schools, all of them teach corporate business. But then, corporate business accounts for less than 10% of the total business in the country. He also adds that the new business study centre willencourage a new kind of management culture, which will be meant for small public sector activities.
The School of IT is also undergoing an expansion. Initially, it offered masters degree in bio-informatics, but now, it will include a Masters Degree course in complex technology, where one will study Biology through Mathematics and Computers. The School of Arts, too, will undergo an expansion while the other new centers include an African Studies Centre (research oriented) and a nano-technology centre. Moreover, it is also going to establish a North East Study Centre and a Discrimination Study Centre, among others.
