Delhi University Millennium Handbook, 2009

8/14/2019 Delhi University Millennium Handbook, 2009

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UniUniUniUniUnivvvvvererererersity ofsity ofsity ofsity ofsity of DelhiDelhiDelhiDelhiDelhiThe New M illennium: A New Beginning2000-2005


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Photographs: Vij aya S Varma

Design: Parthi v Shah , [email protected]

Printing: Archana Press

2005 Universit y of Delhi


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The spread of education in society is at the foundations of success

in countries that are latecomers to development. In the quest for

development, primary education is absolutely essential because it

creates the base. But higher education is just as important, for it

provides the cutting edge. And Universities are the life blood ofhigher educat ion. Islands of excellence, say in professional education,

are valuable complements but cannot be substitutes for Universit ies

which provide educational opportunities to people at large.

In the new millennium, almost fifty years after independence, the

role of Universit ies in India is even more cri tical. There is a dramatic

increase in the aspirat ions of people for higher education, which isa consequence of demographic change and rapid urbanization. The

massive expansion of school education, combined with the near-

absence of alternative educational oppor tunit ies for school-leavers,

is also responsible for the exponential increase in the number of

young people seeking places at Universities. Educating large

numbers and maintaining high standards is the need of the times.

The potential for economic development and social p rogress in India

over the next twenty-five years is enormous. Indeed, it is widely

bel ieved that India is poised for a giant leap forward. The

transformation of economy and society in the twenty-first century,

however, would depend upon the spread and the quality of

education among our people, par ticularly in the sphere of higher

education.

This is, obviously, an important conjuncture for Universities in India.

In keeping with the vision of our leaders and the aspirations of our

people, for India in the twenty-first century, it has been our

Preface


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endeavour to make a new beginning at the University of Delhi.And the past five years have been a crucial, as also rewarding,

period of development for us.

Academic reforms have been at the centre of our endeavour. We

have sought to strengthen the teaching-learning process, in

particular through the introduction of internal assessment. This

has been reinforced by a restructuring of curricula. Undergraduateprogrammes, which had not changed for decades, have been

restructured. Several new courses have been introduced. In a world

characterized by rapidly expanding frontiers of knowledge, such

change is imperative.

This academic renaissance must be supported by the requisite

infrastructure. In this sphere, we have taken important strides inmobi lizing resources for the creation of new infrastructure that would

meet our needs for the next quarter century. Connectivity has been

established through a campus-wide computer-network. Academic

complexes, with teaching and research facilities have been built.

Hostel accommodation, particularly for women students, has been

increased by more than fift y per cent. State-of-the-art conference

facili ties are in place. We have also created new spaces for ut il it ies

and social interaction for the campus community.

We recognize that it is just as important to maintain our existing

infrastructure and buildings. It is important to build but it is just as

important to maintain. For this purpose, too, we have mobilized

resources. The restoration of heri tage buildings at t he University is

an integral part of this effort .

Institutions, as much as individuals, are constrained by laws of

iner tia, which makes change difficult . Therefore, it takes an enormous

collective effort to re-energize a large academic community. We


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have accomplished this in large and substantive measure duringthe period from 2000 to 2005. The outcome is visible. There are

systemic changes across-the-board. What is more, these are

sustainable changes, as there is a commitment and an ownership

on the par t of the stakeholders.

Such far-reaching changes would not have been possible, indeed

not even thinkable, without par ticipation and par tnership of theUniversity community as a whole. An ever-widening circle of

concerned persons, representing various constituents of the

Univers i ty communi ty , par t i c ipated in and cont r ibu ted to

institutional change in their respective domains. Indeed, the

partnerships extended beyond the University community to the

world outside. Distinguished academics contributed ideas. Civil

society provided strong suppor t. The University Grants Comm ission,

the Government of Delhi, the Government of India and several

others provided valuable contr ibut ions to our efforts at resource

mobilisation.

The time has come for us to think big and think long. This is easer

said than done in public institutions, which are characterized by

inertia and cynicism. Hence, it is essential to focus on hope rather

than despair. For a better world is possible. But there are no magic

wands. And there are no messiahs. What i t needs is good leadership

and cohesive team work, combined with a determination to help

ourselves. In this pursuit, as a collective, we were able to do much

more than m ight have been expected. Yet, i t is essent ial t o recognize

that striving for excellence is a continuous process. Destinations

and aspirations must move up over time. Hence, these changes

are a beginning and not the end. We have miles to go.

The University of Delhi is reclaiming its leadership role in higher


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DEEPAK NAYYAR

Vice Chancellor

education in India. We would like to be a role model and path-setter for other Universities. There are three dimensions to this

vision. First, we want to provide undergraduates with educational

opportunities that are at par with the best in the world. Second,

we want to capture the synergies between teaching and research,

which enrich each other, since it is often forgotten that Universities

are the natural home for research. Third, we want to provide an

intellectual space that is not constrained by the sharply drawn

boundaries between subjects or departments, for knowledge is

developing at the intersection of disciplines.

The beginning of a millennium or t he turn of a century are impor tant

watersheds, which are time for reflection and introspection. This

short essay is an exercise in the same spirit. It is about a new

beginning at the University of Delhi during the first quinquennium

of the new millennium. It seeks to highlight glimpses of what we

have achieved during the past five years. It is not meant to provide

a systematic or comprehensive account of the period. The following

pages describe the outcome of our collective effort at the University

of Delhi. This shor t book is also the outcome of a similar team

effort on the par t of Professor C.R. Babu, Dr. Kiran Datar, Professor

Deepak Pental, Professor Shyam Menon, Professor Sampat Tandon

and Professor Vijaya Varma. Most of the burden of work, however,

was borne by Professor Shyam Menon. He found the time and made

the effort, for this good cause, despite so many prior claims on his

time. It is not just his clarit y. It is his sense of engagement with,

care for, and belonging to the University of Delhi t hat comes acrossin the text. This book would not have been possible without him.

1st May 2005


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he University of Delhi, which began life in 1922 with just

three colleges and 750 students, has become one of Indias major

institutions of higher learning addressing the ever-increasing

aspirations of her people for tertiary education of acceptable

quality and relevance. In this process, the University has itselfgrown and diversified phenomenally over the past decades. With

its 78 colleges, 84 postgraduate departments, over 300,000 students

and about 7,000 teachers, the University of Delhi is now the

largest in India and among the largest in the world. The University

runs undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes, in

liberal disciplines, in professions and in interdisciplinary andapplied areas. The University has through these eighty years

created and sustained a number of world-class centres of

undergraduate education. It has also demonstrated its excellence

in research and postgraduate education in many disciplines. It

has been home to a large and vibrant academic community, at

the forefront in the generation and transaction of new ideas, active

in various departments of public life. Each of the past decades

has had its expectations from the University of Delhi. The

University on its part has been able to adapt, transform and gear

itself to incorporate these expectations into its institutional

agenda, struggling all the while not to compromise its essential

characteristic as a centre of excellence in higher education.

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The University


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he new millennium brought with it new challenges to the

University of Delhi. Much of that had to do with the growing

and diversifying aspirations of young people and the need to make

their engagement with the University as meaningful and as

appropriate to the times as possible. This was the first challengeof transforming and updating curricula and initiating a process

of academic reforms. Many postgraduate departments were

severely understaffed with a large number of positions lying

vacant. There was a need for embarking on faculty recruitment

almost on a war footing. While doing this, it was also necessary

to attract the best talent available in the country and abroad to acareer in the University of Delhi. This was the second challenge.

The Universitys physical infrastructure was proving inadequate

to meet the needs of the growing numbers. It was also in a state

of disrepair. The campus was calling out for a drastic expansion

of building space and restoration and renovation of the existing

buildings and facilities. The campus also needed to be given a

face-lift to create a milieu conducive to a vibrant social and cultural

environment. There was also a need for better classrooms, seminar

rooms and laboratories, with all the necessary modern equipment

and amenities. All these put together constituted the third

challenge.

The postgraduate campus of the University has grownphenomenally over the decades. However, the Departments have

become somewhat inward looking in their preoccupation with

teaching and research in their own respective areas. There have

Challenges and Opportunities

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been very few occasions and platforms for the larger academiccommunity of the whole campus and the colleges to congregate

in an atmosphere of collegiality. A fourth challenge was therefore

to energize the overall academic environment on the campus

through the creation of large academic platforms and events for

the entire campus community to participate in, and through the

setting up of structures within interdisciplinary spaces forcollaborative efforts at research and teaching across departments.

The budget constraint was becoming dominant, as there were

not enough resources for maintenance, let alone for development.

It was imperative that the University persuade the University

Grants Commission to allocate more resources, and look beyond

the UGC to mobilize resources for all these ambitiousdevelopmental plans. This was the fifth challenge.

In a short span of time, five years, we sought to transform these

challenges into opportunities. And, this we did through a process

that involved participation of, and thus generating a sense of

ownership among, the various components of the University

community. The transformative process was carried out in a way

that ensured their sustainability, by bringing about legislative

changes and building in new processes and provisions into the

administrative and governance structures, and above all by

creating broad consensus among the critical actors. In what

follows, we attempt to present glimpses of some of our efforts to

address these challenges.


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he academic processes constitute the core of the University.

Among the millennium initiatives, the highest priority was

attached to academic reforms. To strengthen teaching and

learning, it became necessary to transform the very core of the

academic processes, an evaluation system which depended entirelyon annual examinations. In July 2003, the University introduced

a system of internal assessment as an integral part of the evaluation

system. The internal assessment system comprised class tests, in-

house examinations, written assignments, tutorials, project

reports, term papers, seminars and fieldwork, and carried a total

weightage of 25%. To make this elaborate evaluation system workaccording to laid down procedures and schedules, it was necessary

to put in place certain critical structures, such as monitoring

committees both at the College and at the University level.

In order to ensure that there were the requisite 180 teaching days

every year, a six-day teaching week was re-introduced with effect

from July 2003. Also, it was legislated that teaching would

commence on July 16th and would end not earlier than March

23rd. The system of tutorials and preceptorials was strengthened.

Mentoring by teachers was institutionalized. A system of

academic monitoring and supervision, and student-faculty

committees was introduced essentially to ensure that the academic

processes are organized effectively.

Academic Reforms

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he largest academic programmes of the University of Delhi

are its undergraduate programmes. Most of these had not

undergone changes, except superficially, for decades. The

University, therefore, began the process of curricular

transformation giving priority to those programmes where changewas most needed. The BA (Pass) programme underwent a

structural transformation into the new BA programme. Similarly,

the BA (H onours), BCom (H onours), BSc (General), BSc

(Honours) programmes were transformed.

BA Programme: The much neglected BA (Pass) programme

underwent a substantial change when a new BA was launched in

July 2004. This was an initiative with enormous importance, in

the sense the restructured programme enables students to have a

solid grounding in some disciplines, acquire linguistic skills and

foundational knowledge in certain critical areas and be equipped

with some skills to enter the world of work. What undoubtedly

is the Universitys largest teaching programme, affecting some50,000 students in colleges and more than 100,000 in the open

and distance learning system, had stagnated over five decades. It

was replaced by a restructured programme after a two year long

consultation involving teachers, students and experts. The new

programme has a structure that includes foundation courses,

language courses, discipline courses and application courses. Whilethe foundation courses focus on such themes as social inquiry

and contemporary India, the application courses cater to a variety

of interests such as creative writing, music, theatre, disaster

management, entrepreneurship, etc. The new BA programme

Restructuring Academic Programmes

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has generated a great deal of excitement and has been welcomedby teachers, students and the community at large as a relevant

and attractive programme, the first of its kind in India.

BA (Honours) Programme: The programme structure of BA

(Honours) was transformed without altering the structure or

substance of the courses in the main subjects, which were left to

the respective departments to revise from time to time. The

erstwhile language and subsidiary courses, which were non-credit

courses, were made integral to the programme structure in the

form of concurrent courses that are credited. The restructured

programme includes, besides courses in the main disciplines which

account for about 80% weightage, concurrent courses of about

20% weightage which are based on disciplines, languages, literatureand interdisciplinary themes, and which support the study of

the major discipline, rendered in an attractive and relevant manner

to a non-specialist student.

The BA (Honours) programme was transformed in a manner

that would enable (1) generation of broad-based knowledge

grounded in interdisciplinary understanding, (2) inculcation of

awareness of the crucial issues faced by society and (3)

development of informed and socially aware citizens as well as

scholars who possess academic excellence.

BSc Programmes: Exciting developments in the field of science

and available opportunities at workplace have made it imperative

that the undergraduate science courses be redesigned to take into

account emerging trends and the professional aspirations of young

students. The boundaries between different domains of science

have become fuzzy; the more exciting developments are being


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reported from areas at the interfaces of disciplines. In responseto the changes taking place in society, the University of Delhi

has undertaken a major restructuring exercise for its science

courses. The underlying principle was that the undergraduate

science education must provide students with (1) a broad-based

exposure to the critical domains of sciences, i.e., Physics,

Chemistry, Biology, in both single science domain and multiplescience domain modes, (2) adequate background of mathematical

sciences, and tools and techniques of computer applications,

modern instrumentation, electronics and analytical techniques,

(3) skills in technical writing and communication skills, (4)

adequate exposure to global and local concerns that explore the

many aspects of societal relevance in environmental science, and

(5) opportunity to explore the multi-disciplinarity of science,

particularly in emerging areas that lie at the intersections of

physical, chemical, life and earth sciences including such cutting-

edge areas like astrobiology, theoretical biology, geophysics,

molecular palaeontololgy, biogeochemistry, etc.

What was called the BSc (General) programme has been radicallyrestructured. It offers a combination of three science disciplines,

mixed judiciously to permit studies in physical science, life science

and applied science and of interest to students seeking a broad-

based exposure to science. The first year of study consisting of

foundation courses is common to all students and provides

exposure to essentials of Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences and

Mathematics. The course provides hands-on exposure to tools

and techniques of science and develops generic core competencies

in use of computers, modern laboratory instruments and data

handling techniques critical for understanding the empirical


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nature of science. It also includes formal courses on technicalwriting and communication skills in English and provides

opportunities for addressing issues of societal concern through a

course on Environmental Science. The second and third years

allow diversification through study of carefully designed

combinations of three disciplinary domains of science. Students

would be able to add value to their degree by choosing from arange of electives of multidisciplinary interest, including those

from Humanities. The teaching strategies and the accompanying

evaluation and assessment are befittingly interactive; the

laboratory component in particular has fifty percent weightage

reserved for internal assessment.

The University is also launching a new honours programme titledBSc in Biological Sciences. In significant contrast to the existing

BSc (Honours) in Botany and Zoology, the new programme

introduces Biology from the contemporary perspective wherein

it is viewed as an integrated universal science, emphasizing the

functional unity underlying structural diversity in living

organisms. This course will, again, have a common foundationcourse in the first year, as designed for the other new BSc

programmes.

BCom (Honours) Programme:The BCom (Honours) programme

also underwent a thorough revision. The revised BCom

(Honours) programme has three distinguishing features: (1) The

21 courses that constitute the programme include applied languagecourses, which are credited. New courses like Politics, Ethics

and Social Responsibility of Business would need involvement

of teachers of political science, philosophy, etc. (2) There are

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greater Information Technology inputs. This includes IT inputsin many of the compulsory courses such as accounting, statistics,

income tax, etc., along with two optional groups of IT courses in

the final year. There are two compulsory papers on computers.

There is also a practical component of computer work. (3) The

programme enables a college to offer its students the opportunity

of earning credits for a project report based on summerattachments in business organizations.

BA (Vocational Studies) programme has been restructured and

revised in view of the changes in the employment market. The

restructured programme has seven streams, including tourism,

management and marketing of insurance, small and medium

enterprises, and human resource management. Each of thesestreams has a foundation course on computer and business

communication and four language courses. In addition, the

programme contains four vocational courses and three

interdisciplinary courses in each of the seven streams.

New Programmes: A new MBA (Services) programme was started

in the South Campus with a view to addressing the longstanding

need for a good management degree programme for the service

sectors. Several other new programmes have been initiated in

the past five years, some of them in interdisciplinary and applied

areas. In some cases, the initiative has come from colleges that

transact these programmes. They include BSc (Honours)

Computer Science, BSc (H onours) Polymer Science, BSc(Honours) Biological Sciences, BA (H onours) Modern European

Languages, BE (Biotechnology), BE (Information Technology),

MSc (Computer Science), MA/ MSc in Environmental Studies,

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PG Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building,MPhil (Clinical Psychology) and MPhil (Environmental Studies).

Course Transformations: The past five years saw many

departments coming forward and undertaking major

transformations in the structures of the courses they have been

offering. The University instituted a system of peer evaluation

of new course structures, syllabi and reading lists, involving

expertise from outside the University. This created an

opportunity for ensuring prior quality audit of the new course

structures by the larger professional community. Several

departments took their undergraduate honours programmes

through a process of major revision, e.g., BA (Honours) courses

in History, English, Economics, Sociology, Punjabi, BusinessEconomics, Applied Psychology, and BSc (Honours) courses in

Geology, Anthropology, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology,

Polymer Science, and H ome Science. Several other programmes

also underwent structural transformations, e.g., BA (Pass) H ome

Science, BSc (General) Sericulture, BSc (General) Computer

Science, BLibSc, MLibSc, MSc (Electronics), MSc (PlantMolecular Biology and Biotechnology), MCom, MA (Political

Science), MA (English), MA (Punjabi), MA/ MSc (Applied

Operational Research), MTech (Microwave Electronics), MIB,

MH RO D, Cert ificate/ Diploma/ Advanced D iploma in

Portuguese Language, Certificate/ Diploma/ Advanced Diploma

in Korean Language, PG Diploma in International Marketing,

Diploma in Business Journalism and Corporate Communication,

and MPhil (Education). Modifications have been made in many

courses under various programmes, keeping in perspective the

emerging trends.


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he University of Delhi has a glorious tradition of research

and advanced studies in various disciplines. There are many

Departments of Special Assistance and Centres of Advanced Study

of the UGC in the various faculties of the University. The UGC

continued to assist these Departments through the Ninth andthe Tenth Plan periods. The upgradation of the Department of

Education as the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education

(IASE) and the Maulana Azad Centre for Elementary and Social

Education (MACESE) by the Ministry of Human Resource

Development, Government of India was institutionalized when

the UGC was persuaded to assimilate the faculty positions underthe IASE scheme into the maintenance grant of the University

on the conclusion of the Ninth Plan period. While the older

science departments continued to make their mark as leaders in

their respective fields, some of the newer departments,

particularly those in life sciences, earned accolades for their work

in the very frontiers of science and its applications.

Sciences:

The past five years saw several significant new research projects

in progress, some of them making important contributions

furthering the knowledge horizon. The science departments have

been particularly active in this matter.

Scientists at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology

successfully participated in the international consortium on rice

genome sequencing. The project was funded at the national level

by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The

New Dimensions in Research

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nanoparticles for encapsulating water-soluble drugs. Thistechnology has been patented in India and the US. This

laboratory has also developed an ophthalmic formulation of

NSAID drugs for which it has got patents in India and the US.

The group is now working on nanotechnologies which have

applications in enzyme therapy, treatment for leukemia, and a

drug-less therapeutic process without side-effects, for cancer. TheDepartment of Chemistry has recently created an LCT Mass

Spectrometric facility under the FIST programme of the

Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

The Department of Geology has been actively engaged in many

thrust areas of research in earth sciences. A Leica Workstation

DMRX with image analysis system with provision for polarisingtransmitted and reflected light microscopy, differential

interference contrast, phase contrast microscopy, digital

photography and quantitative analysis have been installed recently

in the Department.

The Department of Botany has been contributing significantly

in several areas of plant sciences, particularly in the assessment

of genetic diversity at the molecular level and understanding

morpho-genetic phenomena in different groups of plants. Under

the FIST programme, the Department has acquired a Confocal

Laser Scanning Microscope. This facility gives a fillip to research

in structural biology.

The Department of Mathematics is known for its recent

contributions in Analysis, such as Spectral Synthesis in

hypergroups, quotient rings of algebras of functions and

operators, role of orthogonal polynomials in differential


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years, while many disciplines acquired new and prestigiousprogrammes.

The Department of Political Science which was already a

Department of Special Assistance was awarded the assistance for

strengthening of infrastructure in the Humanities and Social

Sciences by the UGC. The Departments projects on Local

Governance in a Comparative Perspective and Distinctiveness

of Indian Democracy, among others, have made significant

progress.

The Department of Chinese and Japanese Studies added into its

fold Korean Studies and got its new name of East Asian Studies.

Globalization and Institutional Reforms in East Asia and

Literature in the Twentieth Century in East Asia are some of the

major projects that have been completed and publications are

forthcoming.

The Department of Sociology has completed a major international

collaborative project on Ethnography of the State and another

on Trends in the Methodology of Social Research.

There were contributions from the Department of History

towards documenting the anti-colonial struggle in India in the

form of two three-volume sets of documents relating to the

Freedom Struggle in a project supported by the Indian Council

for Historical Research. The Department has also been active in

the areas of new social history, interface of memory and history,monetary history, history of art and architecture, landscape

archaeology and the emergent sub-field of historical fieldwork.

The Department of Psychology is known for their work in recent


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years in cultural psychology and psychohistory. An importantpublication on Methodology and Fieldwork came out of the

Department of Anthropology in 2004. Department of Economics

is known for its contributions to economic theory and

development economics. Departments of Law, Management,

Social Work and Education of the University of Delhi are leaders

in their respective areas of professional expertise. The Departmentof Education, including teachers of the Experimental Basic School

attached to it, made significant contributions to the exercise of

textbook revision initiated in recent years by the Government

of Delhi. The Department has also been active in providing

resource support to governmental and non-governmental

initiatives at universalizing elementary education. Departments

of languages have also made significant contributions in their

respective areas. The Department of Linguistics is known for

their work in the past few years in theoretical linguistics, socio-

linguistics and applied linguistics.

The University hosted the All India Public Hearing on the Rights

to Food, where peoples movements took part together withmany policy makers and economists including the Nobel Laureate

Professor Amartya Sen.

The Developing Countries Research Centre became a full-fledged

Centre of the University. The Centre undertook a number of

international collaborative projects including Rights,

Representation and the Poor; Conflicts and Institutional Changein India, Brazil and South Africa; and Truth, Reconciliation and

Human Rights in India and South Africa. It also completed a

comparative study of Poverty Eradication and the role of local


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institutions in three states of India. A major research programmeof the Centre was on Gender and Migration in Asia under which

an international seminar was held leading to the publication of

five volumes currently in press.

The Women Studies and Development Centre had a number of

research programmes including the decennial review of the

Platform of Action of the Beijing World Congress of Women. It

has been engaged in a project on Feminism in an Indian

Perspective, which has involved scholars and activists from all

over India in various fields.


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comprehensive legislation on the governance of the Library

system was enacted in 2004 to make the system more effective

and efficient. Rs 8 million from the developmental grants to the

University under the Ninth Plan was reallocated to the Library

system, over and above the regular developmental grantearmarked for it. Plans for the restoration of the Library building

has been approved by the University. The proposal is at present

being considered for approval by the Government of Delhi. The

Braille Library has been modernized and upgraded. The

University of Delhi has entered into an agreement with the UGC

and the Inflibnet to participate in the country-wide Infonetprogramme. The University Computer Network has been

provided 2 Mbps of additional bandwidth, and more importantly,

subscription to a whole consortium, running into hundreds of

electronic journals in sciences, social sciences and humanities.

A

Library System


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any instruments at the University Science Instrumentation

Centre had not been functional for a long time due to paucity of

grants for repairs and spares. For the first time, the Universityprovided additional grants, not only for making dysfunctional

instruments functional and for their upgradation, but also for

acquiring new instruments. Under the Tenth Plan grant, the

University Instrumentation Centre has acquired a Micro-Raman

Laser Spectrometer used for determination of phase chemistry

and other applications in physics, chemistry, biology,microbiology and forensic science.

Upgrading the University ScienceInstrumentation Centre

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uch of the academic infrastructure available on the North

Campus had been constructed in the 1940s and 1950s. The numberof postgraduate departments, faculty, courses and number of students

have since increased manifold. However, the infrastructure has not

undergone any expansion worth the name in the last three or four

decades. The need for extra space has been experienced acutely in

the Faculty of Arts complex, where the departments of the Faculties

of Arts, Social Sciences and Mathematical Sciences were located.With the passage of time this was aggravated by the expansion and

diversification of faculty. Several members of faculty did not have

any office space, and many others were forced to share office space.

Addressing this need, two new buildings with state-of-the-art facilities

have been constructed next to the Faculty of Arts. The first houses

the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences. Opposite this, is the othernew building which is the new home for the Faculty of Social Sciences.

As a result of this, much more space has been released within the

Old Faculty of Arts Complex for the members of the Faculty of

Arts.

Academic Infrastructure

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Centre for Science Education and Communication, the IntellectualProperty Rights Centre, the Institute of Humanities, the Centre

for Psycholanalytic Studies, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies

of Mountain and H ill Development and the Professor DS Kothari

Centre for Science, Ethics and Education. O ne floor of this building

is allocated to the Department of Education to locate its diverse

activities and house its various facilities, including those under theIASE-MACESE Scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource

Development, Government of India. This is in response to the

longstanding need for more space recognized right since 1979 when

the Central Institute of Education merged with the University of

Delhi as a full-fledged Department of Education.

A Biotech Centre is being established in the South Campus withfunding from the Government of Delhi. This Centre is meant to be

the nucleus of University-Industry interactive research in the areas

of enzymes of industrial utility, transgenic crops, diagnostics for

diseases and genetic disorders.

In addition, a comprehensive attempt was made to equip all faculty

offices with computers connected to the campus-wide network and

all classrooms with appropriate audiovisual equipment. Most newly

appointed members of faculty, especially in the sciences, were

provided with a seed-grant for setting up their laboratories.


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to a number of electronic journals and with the coming of theUGC-Infonet-Inflibnet consortium, electronic subscription to a

collection of the worlds most prestigious journals has become

accessible to users throughout the University. Besides, the

Campus-wide Intranet, with transmission speeds of the order of

Gbps, provides genuine broadband connectivity within the

University. In t ime, it is expected that the application and use ofthis network will grow.

The whole project involved about 44 km of fibre-optic cabling,

around 200 km of enhanced Cat5 UTP cabling and has provision

for 3200 nodes, stretched across nearly 80 buildings covering all

departments, centres and administrative units of the University,

13 campus colleges and 16 on-campus hostels. Since 2004, thereach of the network has been further extended, the Main and

the South campuses have been connected directly by a dedicated

wireless link, and a trial project of bringing off-campus colleges

on the network through wireless has been initiated.


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he University of Delhi is truly speaking a national university.

Situated in the national capital, it attracts an enormous number

of students from all over India. It also attracts a large number of

students from other countries. The University of Delhi has one

of the largest enrolment of foreign students among universities

in India and this part of the world. The number of students

from other parts of India and abroad are particularly high in the

postgraduate and research programmes. The demand for

residence was much more than what was available on campus.

The situation was particularly acute in the case of women. In the

past five years, several hostels have come up. The interesting

aspect of this development is that the University tapped several

sources other than the UGC for funding the construction of

these hostels. The International Students House for Women

with 100 seats was established in the Dhaka campus with the

Universitys own funds. The North Eastern Students Hostel

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for Women in the Dhaka Campus and the North EasternStudents Hostel for Men in the South Campus, each with 100

seats, were constructed with funding from the North Eastern

H ill Council. An SC-ST Womens H ostel and a hostel for

students of the Delhi School of Economics with 100 seats have

also been set up in the Dhaka campus. On the South Campus,

another mens hostel has been established with funding from theUGC under the N inth Plan. In the year 2000, the total capacity

of the University hostels was about 1000. With all these new

hostels, the total capacity of student-residences has increased by

about 50%; the total capacity now is about 1500. O f this increase,

about 300 seats have been for women.

The older hostels too have been provided with resources tomodernize their kitchens, renovate bathrooms and create

common facilities. This has been an important millennium

achievement, even if it is less visible. The physical environment

of these hostels has also been improved considerably.


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Conference Centre:

A state-of-the-art Conference Centre has come up opposite the

Department of Botany. This complex has a large air-conditioned

conference hall, which can seat more than 200 people. The

complex also has nine large and medium-sized committee rooms,

board rooms, computer room, and space which can be used for

video-conferencing and as a media centre. It has also a large room

for coffee and tea breaks, a spacious and impressive lounge and a

pantry. The Conference Centre has a beautiful green ambience.

With the commissioning of this facility, the University

community can now organize academic conferences, national

and international, on campus without having to rent space in

hotels or other institut ions in the city.

Common Facilities


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Guest Houses:An International Guest H ouse has been established in the main

campus. It began functioning in October 2004. It has 27 rooms,

some of which are large

suites. The rooms are well

appointed to suit

international guests. TheGuest House has a fully

equipped modern kitchen,

a spacious dining room, a

fully equipped conference

room, and a large lounge. The earlier University Guest House

has also been refurbished. Its rooms, kitchen and dining space

have been modernized.

Auditorium:

The Shankarlal Concert H all, which was constructed some three

decades ago, was in a state of disrepair. A major project of repair

and restructuring of the Concert Hall has just been completed. It

is now a state-of-the-art auditorium with all modern facilities.The hall can seat 520 persons. It has backstage facilities and

excellent acoustics. There is a large and beautiful lounge attached

to the hall. The Concert Hall has a beautifully maintained green

space around it.

The two guest houses, the conference centre, the convention hall

which is a part of the restored Old Viceregal Lodge, and therefurbished concert hall together make the University self-

sufficient for holding all kinds of events with congregations of

various sizes.


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he North Campus is not a compact campus. It is an open and

porous space. It has been a challenge to make it safe and secure

for the University community, particularly for women students.

We have been able to achieve this to a large extent. We have also

been able to address the problem of harassment of womenthrough effective preventive measures, strict punitive action

against perpetrators and sustained follow-up with victims which

includes even long term professional help. The University has

also come out with a comprehensive legislation against sexual

harassment. All these measures, over the past five years, have

made the campus a much safer place, particularly for women,than it used to be.

We have also been able to create an attractive ambience on

campus. The Jawahar Vatika in the precincts of the restored O ld

Viceregal Lodge has now become a favorite space for the

University community. O n the request of the Vice Chancellor,

and through the special interest taken by the then LieutenantGovernor, the DDA has

come out with a generous

gift to the University of

Delhi. They have

designed, implemented

and financed thedevelopment of two

pedestrian precincts as a

turn-key project. The

larger of the two is the

Campus Environment

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University Plaza in the Arts Faculty Complex. It is an aesthetically

designed space with green lawns, brick-laid paths and courtyards

surrounding the statue of Vivekananda. The DDA has also

commissioned the renowned sculptor Dhruv Mistry to create

two large metal sculptures specially for the University Plaza.

The other mall is near the Botanical Gardens, and is therefore

appropriately called Plaza Botanica. It is a rectangular space

merging with the Botanical Garden, and has large patches of

grass and shrubs punctuated with a number of beautiful trees.

These spaces attract young people to spend their leisure in pleasant

surroundings in an atmosphere, which is both secure and sociallyvibrant.


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For nature lovers, the 4 acre space behind the University Press isbeing developed into a mini Biodiversity Park. The terrain of

the Park will be like a shallow bowl with a wooded perimeter

surrounding a meadow with a small body of water in the middle.

The green canopy of the Park will be fully visible in five years.

The Biodiversity Park, along with areas contiguous to it where

the Plaza Botanica, the garden of medicinal herbs and theArboretum are situated, will be home to many rare species of

flora.

A number of new gardens have been developed during the last

five years, e.g., the gardens at the womens hostel complex at

Dhaka, the gardens at the new Mathematical Sciences complex

and the University Centre. Three gardens are at present being

developed at the Academic Research Centre, Conference Centre

and the Social Sciences Block. Several new species of plants,

particularly palms, have been planted.


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he University of Delhi has a large campus community. There

has always been a felt need here for certain utilities as well as

space for social interaction. Since 2000, the Campus has seen the

establishment of a number of such facilities.

The first development in this direction after the turn of the

Millennium is the return of the Coffee House as an annexe to

the Old Viceregal Lodge. The Coffee House had been an

intellectual hub of the University of Delhi, and its return signifies,

in more senses than one, the re-assertion of the intellectual

tradition of the University.

A Utilities Centre has been constructed near the main

administration building of the University. It houses two banks,

ATMs, railway reservation counters, a post office and a Delhi

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Transport Corporation Ticketing Centre. It also has a Kendriya

Bhandar departmental store. This Utilities Centre meets several

needs that the campus community has felt for a long time.

A University Centre was established in 2004 in the Arts Faculty

Complex adjacent to the Central Reference Library, overlookingthe new University Plaza. Its establishment is in response to the

need the University community has always felt for a space where

they can congregate for events, cultural and intellectual. It has a

food court, where Spic Macay has started a holistic health caf.

It has an amphitheatre, which can seat about 100, set in a beautiful

green environment. The amphitheatre provides a congenial spacefor theatre workshops, book-reading sessions and small music

concerts. It has a few multi-purpose rooms, which are used for

lectures, seminars and film-shows. It has also a reading room. A

collective of independent publishers has opened a bookstore called


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the U-Special in the University Centre. It also has a souvenir

shop, People Tree. The most important component of the

University Centre, however, is the Centre for Self Expressionand Creative Growth, founded in the belief that it is crucial for

us to engage with crises in individuals lives and in social processes.

Youth as a stage in the human life cycle is especially prone to

such upheavals. Young people walk into this Centre to engage

with cultural and therapeutic experiences that enable emotional

expressions of a wide range and develop experientially into aprocess of creative growth.

During the last five years, the facilities at the WUS Health Centre

have been upgraded. An X-ray machine and an automatic analyzer

in the pathology laboratory have been installed. Part-time

specialists have been engaged as consultants. Arrangements have

been made for providing services in the indigenous systems ofmedicine.

To promote sports activities, the University of Delhi has developed

a national level facility at the polo ground of the University.


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Restoration of Heritage Buildings

T he main Campus of the University of Delhi was established in

the 1930s and 1940s, on the area adjacent to the camp set up for the

entourage of the King Emperor during the Delhi Durbar. The area

was on the North Western slope of the Northern Ridge, and had

several buildings and structures built by the British colonizers, someimmediately before and several others after the siege of Delhi in

1857. The most magnificent among these buildings is the Old

Viceregal Lodge. It now houses the offices of the Vice Chancellor

and other senior officers of the University, and also the Council

Halls. The building had a somewhat unremarkable beginning. It

was a forest inspection bungalow in the late 1860s. It was made acircuit house in the 1880s. At the turn of the century it became the

residence of the Viceroy on his journey between Calcutta and Simla.

When the colonial capital moved to Delhi in 1911, the building

became the residence of the Viceroy. The Viceroy lived in this

building right through the years of the great war and for almost a

decade thereafter, till his new residence designed by Lutyens on

Raisina hill, some miles to the south, was ready. The underground

cellar of the building was for some time used as a makeshift prison

for Bhagat Singh, the great revolutionary. The present office of the

Registrar of the University is the room in which Lord Mountbatten

proposed marriage to Edwina. The building was handed over to the

University in 1933. Over the decades, the building had suffered

major structural and other damages. Several alterations had been

made to the building, mostly to create more space to accommodate

the growing demands of a fast expanding institution. In the year

2000, the building was a pale shadow of its glorious past.


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The Urban Heritage Foundation, Delhi provided a generous grant-in-aid of Rupees 35 million for the restoration of the building. The

architect was selected through a competition judged by a

distinguished jury. Restoration involved undoing the alterations

made on the building over the years and restoring the original layout.

During repairs, care was taken to retain the original components of

the building, be it woodwork or marble. The old ballroom, whichhad for some time been used as the University Library, and which

became later a dump for old furniture has now been restored and


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made into a state-of-the-art convention centre. The convention centreis centrally air-conditioned and is equipped with sound-proof

partitions which allow for its use either as a large convocation hall

or as three separate conference rooms. An exhibition area and an

archive have also been developed. The greatest challenge in this

process was to restore the original grandeur of the building, while

ensuring that the interiors were appropriately functional for use asmodern offices. The Jawahar Vatika and the lawns surrounding the

building have also been redesigned and re-landscaped in a manner

that they blended harmoniously with the restored building and its

ambience.

The University persuaded the Government of Delhi to set aside

Rupees 250 million during the Tenth Plan period (2002-2007) forthe restoration of old and heritage buildings at the University of

Delhi and its colleges. The Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit and the

then Lieutenant Governor Mr Vijai Kapoor took special interest in

getting this restoration project launched. There are a few buildings

on the University campus built in the 1940s, some of them designed

by one of Lutyens contemporaries, Walter George. These buildingswere in varying states of disrepair, and needed urgently to be repaired

and restored. The Faculty of Arts building, Gwyer Hall, the Central

Institute of Education, the Old Physics and Chemistry Block and

the Anthropology Block were identified for restoration. The Old

Physics and Chemistry Block is completely restored. Restoration

work in the Faculty of Arts, the Central Institute of Education and

Gwyer Hall is nearing completion. Restoration work in the

Anthropology Block is about to begin.

Among the colleges, Indraprastha, St. Stephens, Miranda House,

Lady Irwin, Hindu and Lady Shri Ram have been identified for


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restoration. While restoration work in Indraprastha, St. Stephens,and Miranda House is complete, work is about to begin in H indu,

Lady Irwin and Lady Shri Ram.


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and is scarce in a growing megapolis like Delhi. It has been a

matter of great concern that the University has very little land

available for future expansion and development. The University

administration took up this matter actively with the Delhi

Development Authority through the then Vice Chairman, MrAnil Baijal. These efforts bore fruit. The DDA granted the

University 17 acres of land adjacent to a plot that the University

owns already near Bawana. This land is kept as a reserve for the

future development of the University, possibly for a West

Campus.

Illegal occupation of land is very much a part of the urban reality.

The University of Delhi had its own share of the problem. In

2000, there was almost 7 acres of University land opposite Khalsa

College, near Rieds Lines and in Dhaka under illegal occupation.

The University administration with the active cooperation of

the Government of Delhi, particularly with the help of the then

Lieutenant Governor as well as the Chief Minister had all theselands vacated and made available for the development of the

University. The University, on its part, compensated the displaced

families for their resettlement. The University, through its

Department of Education, even arranged to provide resources

for a bus service to bring the children of the displaced families

from their resettlement colonies to their school till the completionof the academic session.

Land and Development

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he University of Delhi has for long been aware of its role in

a larger international academic community, and in pursuance of

this, the University has been reaching out to fraternal institutions

in different parts of the world for collaborative programmes,

student exchange and so on. The thrust during the past five yearshas been in strengthening our linkages within the Asian region.

The highlight of this has been our signing MOUs with four

leading Universities of South Korea, two national universities

and two highly respected private universities. There is an active

student exchange programme in the areas of Korean language,

culture, area studies, medicine, architecture, etc. We also continueto sustain our links with institutions in Japan. There is a highly

successful collaboration on between the Institute of Informatics

in the University of Delhi South Campus and the TIT in Japan.

There has been an attempt to enlarge and deepen linkages with

the European Union. There are MOUs with some very reputed

Spanish, Portuguese, French and German institutions, underwhich there are student exchanges particularly in language,

literature, culture and theatre.

The longstanding relationship that we have with the University

of Heidelberg and the University of California has been further

strengthened during the last five years. There is a highly successful

student exchange programme between the University of Delhi

and these Universities especially in areas in social sciences and

humanities. These linkages have now been extended also to

include some colleges of the University of Delhi.

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he last few years saw several members of the University of

Delhi community being recognized with awards, fellowships and

decorations. Professor Indira Goswami of the Department of

Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, who is known

for her literary excellence in Assamese, received the 36th JnanpeethAward for her contribution to Indian literature. Professor Deepak

Nayyar, Vice-Chancellor, was elected Chairman, Board of

Governors of the United Nations University World Institute

for Development Economics Research, Helsinki. He was also

elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Social Science

Research Council of the United States. Professor Nayyar waselected Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, University of

Oxford. He was also elected Vice-President of the International

Association of Universities based at UNESCO, Paris. Professor

Krishna Kumar of the Department of Education and Professor

Deepak Pental, Director, South Campus, were awarded

Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowships. Professor SK Tandon of the

Department of Geology was elected Fellow of the Third World

Academy of Science. Professor Debi Sarkar of the Department

of Biochemistry received the prestigious Bhatnagar Award. In

addition, several scientists in our science departments were

recognized for their work with fellowships of important national

academies.

Individual Recognitions

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Millennium Lecture Series:

The Millennium Series of Public Lectures was launched in 2002

with a grant of US$ 45,000 from the Ford Foundation in order

to enrich further the intellectual life of the University and the

larger community. The Lecture series enabled the University toinvite internationally distinguished scholars and to provide an

opportunity, not just to a specialist audience but to our

undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to the citizens of

the city of Delhi, to interact with some of the brightest minds of

the world. The vision that guided the University in seeking to

establish the Millennium Series is embodied in the words ofRabindranath Tagore: The most important mission of the

university is to bring together minds that are scattered and

disconnected so that much like the nucleus of the living cell, the

university becomes the centre of the intellectual life of the people.

The distinguished scholars who have so far delivered public

lectures under the Millennium Series have been Professor Michael

Walzer, Professor Ronald Dworkin, Professor Joseph Stiglitz,

Nobel Laureate, Professor Perry Anderson, Professor Charles

Taylor and Professor Natalie Zemon Davis.

Convocations:

The annual convocations

provided an opportunity for theUniversity community to listen

to addresses by distinguished

persons. The convocation

Special Events


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addresses in the past five years have been delivered by Dr.Varghese Kurien, Professor Romila Thapar, Dr. APJ Abdul

Kalam, Professor RA Mashelkar, Professor UR Ananthamurthy

and Professor CNR Rao. During the last five years, the University

made it a norm to hold the annual convocation on the last

Saturday of February every year. A special convocation was held

in January 2003 to honour H .E. Mr. Syed Mohammad Khatami,President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

DS Kothari Memorial Lecture Series:

Several distinguished scientists and

thinkers visited the campus to deliver the

annual DS Kothari Memorial Lectures.

In this series, the speakers were Dr KaranSingh, Dr LM Singhvi, Professor Michael

Atiyah and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

Other Visitors:

Many distinguished scholars and academics visited the

departments of the University during the past five years, either

as participants in various programmes or as visiting professors.

They include Professor Noam Chomsky, Professor Jacques

Derrida, Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, Professor

Michael Apple, Mr Kumar Sahani and Professor Ghulam

Mohammed Sheikh, to name just a few.

Cultural Events:

Several cultural events took place in the University in the past

five years. One such was a series of music concerts that were

conducted in the Convention H all of the Old Viceregal Lodge as

a part of the celebration of the restoration of this magnificent


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heritage building. The celebration began with the DS Kothari

Memorial Lecture by the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

in January 2005. A shehnai recital by Ustad Bismillah Khan was

held in February 2005 under the auspices of Spic-Macay. In March2005, a dual concert was held, a vocal recital by Ms Shubha

Mudgal followed by a Sitar recital by Pandit Debu Chaudhari.


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any academic positions were vacant in the postgraduate

departments in 2000, as selections had not been held for faculty

positions in several departments for years. Selections for more

than 450 faculty positions were held in the past five years, and

more than 300 faculty appointments have been made. Theremaining positions have been re-advertised. This process ensured

the infusion of a large body of young talent in the teaching

faculty. This will go a long way in sustaining quality in the

academic and research programmes of the University for many

years to come. In addition, as many as 375 teachers in postgraduate

departments were considered for promotion under the CASscheme during the last five years.

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Faculty Appointments and P romotions


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T he University of Delhi lives in its colleges. During the last five

years, there has been an attempt to strengthen the umbilical cord

between the University and colleges, taking care, however, not to

stifle their capability to take academic initiatives. One such move was

the formal decision taken by the Academic Council and the ExecutiveCouncil to allow colleges to offer short-time courses, some of which

would lead to certification by the University.

There are 69 undergraduate colleges in the University, of which 11

are evening colleges. The undergraduate education that the Universityprovides is rated as the best in the country. Some of its colleges are

internationally known. The University, during the last five years, has

successfully persuaded the Government of Delhi to provide a special

grant to restore and repair the buildings of some of the older colleges.

Facilitating the renewal processes in Colleges


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Many colleges were without Principals for some time, and a fewamong them for several years. In the last five years, as many as 20

Principals of Colleges have been appointed.

The governance of colleges is a complex process and involves

management of a large body of students, teachers and non-teaching

staff. It is recognized that those who have for many years been involved

only in academics, when appointed Principals, need skills in a wide

spectrum of areas administrative, financial and human resource

management as well as in institutional development and perspective

planning. With this in view, the University partnered with the Indian

Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, to design a special professional

development workshop for Principals. The first workshop, for a

batch of 31 Principals was conducted in December 2003 January2004. This was the first time the University addressed the issue of the

professional development of those in management and governance of

institutions within the system. It was much appreciated by the College

Principals.


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School of Design:

The Vice-Chancellor set up a Committee to examine the

feasibility of establishing a School of Design within the University

of Delhi with the dual purpose of mainstreaming the teaching of

Design as a discipline within a University framework and ofmaking the study of design more accessible and affordable to

students. The Committee came out strongly in favour of

establishing a three-year undergraduate programme in Design

leading on to postgraduate and research programmes in the twin

streams of Design and Design Studies. The Academic Council

and the Executive Council have approved the setting up of aFaculty of Design and a School of Design offering BA, MA and

eventually a PhD programme in Design. The University has

earmarked a 5.29 acre plot of land within the Dhaka Campus,

which is an extension of the Main Campus, for creating the

infrastructure for the School of Design. The Planning

Commission, the Ministry of Human Resource Development

and the University Grants Commission have agreed in principle

to support this initiative with a one-time grant-in-aid to meet the

capital expenditure on building and equipment. The UGC is

considering the Universitys proposal to support the maintenance

of a 20 strong faculty to begin with.

Campus of Open Learning:Of the total of about 300,000 students admitted to the various

academic programmes of the University, as many as 150,000 access

these programmes through the distance and open learning mode.

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These are largely young people whose aspirations for highereducation have not been met through the conventional structures

of the University. Some of them may also well be those who

choose to pursue their studies part-time while exploring entry

into the world of work. These numbers are growing steadily.

Making the Campus of Open Learning operational was therefore

a priority, particularly with a view to achieving greater equity inaccess to academic programmes of the University of Delhi. There

was a need to re-look comprehensively at the various structures

and provisions that had already been created in order to make

the system of open and distance learning adequately responsive

to the needs of the large and varied population of young people

who access higher education through this mode. The

Commonwealth of Learning, the internationally renowned

resource institution in open and distance learning under the

Commonwealth of Nations, extended assistance in terms of

professional resource and ideas for the re-conceptualization of

the Campus of Open Learning and its various structures and

functions. All the legislative work related to the creation of the

School of O pen Learning (SO L) in place of the School of

Correspondence and Continuing Education was initiated and

brought to a conclusion. The legislative framework of the O pen

Learning Development Centre (OLDC) has been completed.

When established, the O LDC is expected to undertake research,

development and training in open and distance learning. It is

visualized that the OLDC will service not only the SOL, but

also other constituents of the University in their effort to weave

in elements of open and distance learning into their academic

programmes. Besides these, a Faculty of Open Learning, with a

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Department of Distance and Continuing Education within it,has also been fully legislated and are being activated.

New Departments and Faculties:

When knowledge grows and diversifies, and when new areas

emerge as full-fledged disciplines, it is imperative for a university

to establish new departments. The past five years saw the

establishment of a few new departments and faculties. They are

the Department of Homoeopathic Medicine, the Faculty of

Homoeopathic Medicine and the Department of Physical

Education. The University has decided to set up a Faculty of

Environmental Studies to promote teaching and research in

environment and ecology.

New Interdisciplinary Centres:

As a part of the Universitys efforts at encouraging

interdepartmental collaborations and interdisciplinary initiatives,

three interdisciplinary centers have recently been established.

They are the Centre for Plant Genomics, the Centre for

Psychoanalytic Studies and the Institute of Humanities. These

three Centres are expected to provide platforms for researchers

and scholars from various allied disciplines to come together and

address problems of an interdisciplinary nature through collective

reflections and deliberations, documentation of experiences,

collaborative research, and training.

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t the turn of the millennium, the University of Delhi was in a

difficult financial situation as resource constraints were becoming

dominant. It was essential to address the problem in terms of

both resource utilization and resource mobilization. Better financial

management was obviously necessary and desirable but not

sufficient . If the University had to maintain its position of

leadership in higher education in India, it had to mobilize more

finances, not only for the maintenance of its physical assets but

also for its development projects. The sheer size of the University,

as also the diversity of its programmes, made it a real challenge to

mobilize financial resources that would address the developmentneeds of the University in an optimum manner.

The University of Delhi is almost entirely dependent on the UGC

for its maintenance grants. In 1999-2000, which was representative

of the 1990s, the situation was as follows. The revised estimates of

the budget were Rs 1,223 million, while the actual maintenance

grant released by the UGC, including internal receipts, in terms

of actuals, was Rs 1,042 million. Almost 75 per cent of the

maintenance expenditure was on salaries and retirement benefits.

Of the remainder, about three-fifths were absorbed by pre-emptive

claims such as rents, electricity, telephones, medical expenses and

examinations. Therefore, just about 10% of the maintenance grant

was available for other uses and needs. It was obviously not enough

even for the maintenance of physical assets. Libraries and

laboratories languished. This was no different from the situation

in Universities elsewhere in India.

Mobil iz ing Resources

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The University of Delhi sought to address this problem at twolevels. First, it persuaded the UGC to allocate more resources.

Second, it sought to mobilize resources from outside the UGC.

The revised estimates, for the University of Delhi budget, increased

from Rs 1,224 million in 2000-01 to Rs 1,828 million in 2004-05.

The maintenance grant released by the UGC, including internal

receipts, in terms of actuals, rose from Rs 1,084 million in 2000-01

to Rs 1,601 million in 2004-05. Hence, there was an increase of

more than 50 per cent in a span of five years. Even more important,

perhaps, the share of expenditure, other than on salaries and

retirement benefits of the total expenditure, registered a very

significant increase from 29% in 2000-01 to 41% in 2004-05.

The much improved financial support from the UGC was most

valuable in our endeavour. The UGC recognized that it was

important to support institutions that make systematic efforts to

utilize and mobilize resources instead of simply bridging the gap

between income and expenditure. Some of this support came in

the form of special grants-in-aid for specified purposes. In the

three year period, from 2002-03 to 2004-05, the UGC provided

almost Rs 150 million in the form of such special one-time grants-

in-aid, including Rs 65 million for the repair and renovation of

buildings, Rs 22 million for the upgradation of an electric sub-

station, Rs 16 million for improving facilities in University hostels,

Rs 15 million for renovation of the University auditorium, and

Rs 11 million for improving the drainage-sewerage system.

The development support provided by the UGC, for capital

expenditure, remained at modest levels. Yet, support from the

UGC was an important contribution. Ninth Plan grants from


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subsequently upgraded through a further grant of Rs 20 millionfrom the Ministry of Human Resource Development,

Government of India.

In response to a request from the Vice Chancellor, the Government

of Delhi set aside a sum of Rs 250 million, in its Tenth Five Year

Plan, for the restoration of old and heritage buildings at the

University of Delhi and its colleges. This would not have been

possible without the extraordinary support from the Chief

Minister and the then Lieutenant Governor who recognized that

heritage buildings at the University of Delhi were an integral part

of the heritage of Delhi. These grants-in-aid, which have already

been disbursed for the first three years of the Tenth Plan, have

supported the restoration of several buildings in the Universitycampus as also in its colleges.

The Government of Delhi, at the initiative of the Chief Minister,

provided a grant-in-aid of Rs 54 million for the construction of a

Biotechnology Centre in the South Campus, which is nearing

completion.

The two pedestrian precincts in the University campus, the

University Plaza and Plaza Botanica have been developed for us

on a turnkey basis, financed entirely by the Delhi Development

Authority. The estimated cost of these plazas is about Rs 20 million.

These plazas would not have been possible without the generous

support from the then Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

The construction of the new hostels has been financed by the

following grants-in-aid from the Government of India: Ministry

of Social Justice and Empowerment (Rs 21 million), N orth Eastern

Council, Ministry of Home Affairs (Rs 35 million and Rs 28


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million) and Ministry of Human Resource Development (Rs 16million). In addition, the University of Delhi financed a hostel (Rs

26 million) from its foreign students registration fund. The UGC

provided a grant of Rs 10 million in the N inth Plan for a student

hostel in the South Campus.

The University of Delhi South Campus alone has generated research

funding from various sources to the tune of about Rs 500 million.

This is apart from the assistance from the Department of Science

and Technology under FIST for equipment and facilities. The

Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystem

alone has received a grant of Rs 130 million, and has secured

approval of another Rs 100 million during the past five years from

various sources, particularly from the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority and the Department of Biotechnology of the

Government of India. A total grant of Rs 57.5 million has been

generated by 22 departments of under the Special Assistance

Programme of the UGC. The science departments received Rs

73.2 million under FIST programme from the Department of

Science and Technology of the Government of India. The Centrefor Interdisciplinary Studies of Mountain and Hill Environment

generated a grant of Rs 48 million. The National Consumers

Helpline set up at the Department of Commerce has attracted a

grant-in-aid of more than Rs 32 million from the Ministry of

Consumer Affairs. There are many other departments that have

received research funding from various sources. Put together, they

amount to several tens of millions of Rupees. Individual researchers

also have been able to attract research funding during this period,

which put together, amount to a sizeable sum.


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e have been able to convert the challenges that the turn of the

Millennium brought with it into opportunities for laying the

foundation for a new beginning in the life of the University.

This process has now gathered momentum. There is infrastructure

enough to take the University through the next several decades.Restructured programmes and new courses are fast taking roots.

New academic practices are becoming traditions; commitment

to them from all concerned is deepening. The contours of a

conducive academic, social and physical environment on the

campus are already becoming visible. Much of this holds

enormous possibilities, which will unfold only in the years tocome.

Institutional renewal, however, can never be a finished enterprise.

It is a continuous process. There are still aspects of the Universitys

functioning that need to catch up with the pace of change, in

what we witnessed in the past five years as a wave of structural

transformation. The newly established connectivity on campus,for instance, is yet to find its optimum application, in the

modernization of library services, in simplifying and adding

efficiency to administrative procedures, moving towards a paper-

free office and in the examination system. As for the examination

system, with the introduction of internal assessment, the first

phase of examination reforms is already complete. The next phasewhich should focus on the organization and conduct of university

examinations is yet to take off. Although the University has many

more important strides to make in the years ahead, the past five

years have at least consolidated a tradition for effecting

Conclusion

W


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institutional change through a collegial and participative process.The university has, therefore, the readiness and the capacity to

move on to the next phase of institutional renewal.

There are two essential ingredients in every success story of

institutional transformation. O ne is the coherence of vision and

a sense of purpose. This, along with sustaining the morale of

change agents right through the process of institutional

transformation, is what a good leadership essentially provides to

an institution on the move. The second ingredient is teamwork.

In a large institution like the University of Delhi, the success of

a transformative process, such as the one we witnessed over the

last five years, critically hinges on the cohesiveness of the team

that steers this process. Moreover, carrying through such aprocess, so extensive and vastly diverse, in a relatively short span

of five years, would have been unthinkable, had it not been for

the readiness on the part of the various constituents of the

University community to participate in and play leadership roles

for their respective domains of institutional change. Undoubtedly,

it helped that there was preparedness for such a change amongnearly all concerned. Surely, when the time for change comes,

change is irresistible.


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Documents

Delhi University Millennium Handbook, 2009