NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has secured a financial assistance of Rs 455.02 crore from the Centre’s Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for construction of new academic buildings, hostels and research centres. The funds will also be used for the establishment of Advanced Animal Research Facility, which will be useful for carrying out research on communicable, non-communicable and rare diseases including infectious agents such as coronavirus, JNU vice-chancellor M Jagdesh Kumar said.
The funds will also be used for the installation of integrated and unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which will ensure that all academic and administrative processes are operated using online means in an integrated manner, registrar Pramod Kumar said in a statement Tuesday. The JNU said the varsity recently started various new schools, centres and special centres for which there is an urgent requirement for the construction of hostels.
Currently, there are about 8,000 students enrolled in JNU. Over 1.2 lakh students appear for entrance exams, of which 2,000 are selected. The JNU Students’ Union, however, opposed the initiative, saying the HEFA is not a funding agency. It is a financing agency. The varsity will get loan, not fund. The HEFA is a joint venture of the MHRD and Canara Bank to provide financial support to the varsities. The V-C repay the money after recovering it from students by increasing their fees and expenses.