NEW DELHI: Najma Akhtar, the first woman Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, who is set to retire next week, said she was thankful to the BJP government for looking after the university well. “No other government had thought of giving a medical college to the university,” the V-C said. Asked about her post-retirement plans, Akhtar told this newspaper, “I may be retiring but I am not tired and it is up to the government whichever service it chooses for me.”
Akhtar took over as the V-C of JMI in 2019 ahead of its centenary year. In 2022, she was awarded Padma Shri by the government of India. On January 19, 2023, she was conferred with the honorary rank of Colonel and appointed Colonel Commandment of the university.
Sharing her achievements and projects initiated during the tenure, Akhtar said, “My first achievement was to be accepted as the first woman V-C of the university which is considered to be not so modern. Secondly, the university was nowhere in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) but in the very first year after my joining, it got the 12th rank. In the second year, it got the 10th rank, in the third year, it got the 6th rank, in the fourth year, it got the third rank and in the fifth year, it maintained the same ranking similar to the top three institutes of the country. I did not do this by changing any staff or making additional changes in the university. It is just that I identified hidden talent among the officials.”
“I also managed to increase the percentage of girls in our engineering and science departments. We are ahead of IITs in terms of girl’s percentage. I also introduced a lot of new courses during my tenure including the Department of Environment and Climate Change, dept of Design and Innovation, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Virology Department etc. Further, I managed to bring approvals for a medical college which was long pending,” she said.
“Jamia will soon witness high-rise buildings as well and the health sciences building which is under progress will be ready for the admissions next year,” she said. Asked if there are any probable names making rounds for the post of V-C, Akhtar said, “The list is not prepared yet. My work was to get the post advertised and I have done that already. To the best of my knowledge, a lot of people have applied for the post. In a couple of days, I will also approve the formation of the search committee which will have three members, two from our own university and one from the Ministry of Education.”
Till the new appointment is made, the pro-vice chancellor will be taking charge of the post.