Mahatma Gandhi University has bagged the second Chancellor’s Award meant for capital expenditure in any major project in a university.
The award has a cash prize of Rs.5 crore, a citation and a gold plated trophy. The award ceremony would be held shortly, a press note issued here on Wednesday said. The first Chancellor’s Award went to the University of Kerala.
The selection committee’s recommendation to institute another award for the best emerging university would be forwarded to the government for its consideration.
The selection for the Chancellor’s Award was based on the marks -- out of a total of 600 -- scored by a varsity for its performance in components such as Academics (225 marks), Teaching and pedagogy methods (60), Students profile and achievements (110), Academic governance (80) and other achievements(125). Marks were awarded on the basis of a list of 37 criteria related to the performance in these areas.
The quality of the performance of the Vice Chancellors before the selection committee also played a role in the awarding of final marks, the press note said.
The five-member selection committee comprised B. Srinivas, Principal Secretary to the government; Suresh Das, executive director of the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment; Kulbhushan Balooni, director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode; V. Ramakrishnan, director, IISER; Rose Varghese, Vice Chancellor of NUALS, and secretary to the Governor Davendra Kumar Dhodawat.
The period of assessment of this year’s award was from April 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. Eleven of the 13 universities in the State submitted applications online for the award. The Kalamandalam Deemed university and the A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Technological University did not participate. A five-member inspection team visited all the 11 universities and verified documents/data in support of the claims made in the application form. Later, the Vice Chancellors were given 15 minutes each for a presentation on the achievements of their universities before the Governor and the selection committee.
The committee eventually awarded an overall score of 370.31 points to Mahatma Gandhi University. It was the Vice Chancellors’ conference chaired by the Chancellor at the Cochin University of Science and Technology on October 27, 2014 that decided to institute the Chancellor’s Award for nurturing the spirit of healthy competition among universities in the State, the press note added.
