Ranked as one of the top 10 universities in the recently-released Central government rankings, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has upped the ante by introducing five new programmes this year, including an undergraduate programme in Pashto.
The new programmes have been introduced in the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, and Computer and Systems Sciences. The new programmes are M. Phil/ PhD in North-East India Studies and Comparative Politics and Political Theory, MA in International Relations and Area Studies, BA (Hons) second-year in Pashto and PhD under the Visvesvaraya Fellowship Scheme for Electronics and IT.
As per the data available with the JNU admissions office, 127 new programmes were started/upgraded by the University from 2011 to 2015, including 76 research-level courses and 33 postgraduate-level courses.
The University also had plans to introduce three new courses in film and television, art and history and theatre from this session, but the same did not materialise.
The courses that got a go-ahead by the Academic Council included MA in Art History & Visual Studies, MA in Film, Television & New Media Studies and MA in Theatre and Performance Studies.
Entrance exams for various courses in the University will be held on May 16, 17, 18 and 19.
The University has received 76,091 applications for its various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes this year.
While there has been a drop of nearly 3,000 applications compared to last year, the administration believes this has nothing to do with the recent controversy over the Afzal Guru event and the subsequent arrest of some JNU students.