HYDERABAD: After receiving an A+ grade from NAAC, Osmania University (OU) has now decided to concentrate on enhancing the quality of the institution with focus on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff, and improvement in research output, said the vice-chancellor Prof Ramchandram on Tuesday. The varsity is also likely to increase the intake of students in its postgraduation course. As per the recommendations of the NAAC team, the number of seats in present courses, especially in science and engineering streams will be increased, said the VC. “The last time the number of seats was increased was in 2000 when 320 seats were added in Science courses.
Now we want to have seats at par with private colleges, which have 1,000 seats. We are waiting for the government to finish the teacher recruitment process,” he explained. With regards to the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in the varsity — a point raised during the assessment process too — the VC stated that the process was already underway.He added that attention was also to be paid to project-based research in arts, social sciences, law, education and management courses. To boost employability, additional skill and job-oriented courses will be started by the varsity. Plans are also afoot to introduce new courses like architectural engineering, environmental engineering, fine arts, music, and painting.
One of the recommendations of the NAAC team was to split large faculties like arts and science into smaller ones for better academic and administrative management. It has also suggested formulation of a vision document for OU. “A roadmap for research, innovation, and academics for the next 20 years is already underway and will be released by year-end,” said the VC.
The VC said that building new infrastructure and improving the existing ones is also on the agenda. Accordingly, four new hostels to accommodate 1,100 students are being set up. “We will spend 72 crores on these accommodations from the 200 crore grant we received for the centenary celebrations. While one 100-capacity, disabled-friendly hostel will be constructed, there will be two hostels for 300 students each and another with 400 capacity,” he said.
Strengthening the collaborative efforts in Research and Development (R&D), proactive Internal Quality Assessment Committee (lQAC) and effective online feedback mechanism from all stakeholders are the other suggestions being looked into by the varsity. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) apparatus like smart and interactive classrooms needs to be further strengthened, admitted the VC. The varsity also plans to use solar power on the campus for its energy needs.
1,600
PhD students to get degrees
With the university celebrating centenary year, it has also planned for a centenary convocation this November where 1,600 research scholars will be awarded degrees
Eyeing ‘eminence’ tag
OU is all geared up to seek the ‘institutions of eminence’ status, which will be granted to 10 public and 10 private institutions selected from among the top 50 rankers in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). These 20 institutions will have more autonomy and get an additional grant of ` 10,000 cr.