HYDERABAD: If things go as planned, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) here will soon start ‘bridge courses’ for students from Madrassa schools so that they can be admitted into BA courses.
University Chancellor Zafar Sareshwala, while announcing the same here on Saturday, said that the varsity aims to open more off campuses, start more courses, tie-up with international universities and enhance placement process in the coming years.
Speaking at a press conference here, he said: “We want to offer one year bridge course in all departments so that Madrassa students can join regular BA courses.” In the long run, the varsity also plans to introduce courses in Law and Ayurveda.
According to him, Islamic banking, which he himself is quite well versed in, has huge potential for providing jobs to the varsity’s students. “In the field of Islamic banking, those who understand Sharia are very less. We see huge scope in this sector as international banks like HSBC and ABN Amro have their own Islamic banking wings,” he added.
The BA and MA courses offered in distance education from the university, apparently, do not have UGC recognition in the last 18 years. “We have got UGC recognition a few days ago. Two of our campuses that run polytechnic and ITI courses do not have AICTE approval. A lot needs to be done,” Sareshwala said. He announced receipt of `205 cr out of the `800 cr from the 11th Finance Commission.
“The university which was set up for promoting Urdu, in the last 18 years could not do anything to facilitate the language,” vice-chancellor of the university Mohammed Aslam Parvaiz, who assumed charge a couple of months ago, said. The varsity apparently, is still following 18-year old syllabus of Dr BR Ambedkar Open University in its distance education programme, whereas the open university has revised its syllabus twice.
Meanwhile, when asked about that several faculty members were not proficient in Urdu language to be qualified as teaching faculty, he said it was a fact. “It is an anomaly. To undo this, we have asked Urdu department to frame courses for those teachers who do not know Urdu. They will have to learn the language. Henceforth, we will ensure only those proficient in Urdu are recruited as faculty,” he added.
Land Allotted to MANUU: TRS MP B Vinod Kumar, on Saturday, announced that the state government has allotted 5-acres of government land in Karimnagar town for setting up MANUU’s off campus for the benefit of minority students from northern Telangana districts.
The bridge course for Madrassa students is inspired by Narendra Modi’s initiative in Gujarat when he was the CM. “Modi as chief minister gave permission to students from 11 Madrassas to appear for class 12 examination. Not only did they do well, many of them got into professional courses as well,” said Sareshwala.
Meanwhile former cricketer and former Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin closeting with MANUU Chancellor Zafar Sareshwala, who is known for his proximity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raised eyebrows as he is widely considered as Muslim face of Narendra Modi.
Azhar was seen seated next to Zafar Sareshwala at the lunch.