With autonomy, Panjab University eyes foreign tie-ups

As Panjab University (PU) figured among the 21 state universities that were granted full autonomy by the University Grants Commission (UGC), Tuesday, the varsity says it shall have more freedom to appoint foreign guest faculty and forge collaborations with foreign universities without any interference from UGC. “UBS has been planning to run joint MBA courses with a university each in Australia and UK. They can proceed with their plans without intervention by UGC/ AICTE,” said PU Vice-Chancellor Professor Arun Kumar Grover.

“PU wants to run a programme between University of Nottingham in UK, their campus in Ningbo in China and PU, in the backdrop of HGIIE Trust in UK. This can be explored further. We can continue with the Nomenclature Honours School in our degrees,” Prof Grover told Chandigarh Newsline.

However, when it comes to finances, the varsity will have to work towards becoming more self-reliant. Meenakshi Malhotra, Dean, University Instructions (DUI), said, “Autonomy means more responsibility. The university will have to become self-reliant. In the coming days, we will figure how this will benefit us in other aspects.”

Apart from PU, the state universities in the region that have got autonomy are Kurukshetra University, Haryana; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and University of Jammu.

News Source (Indian Express)