Following concerns of faculty members, teachers’ association, experts and students, the Jamia Milia Islamia University has withdrawn its proposal for “reorganisation of research centres and creation of new facilities” from discussion in the meeting of the academic council.
Sources said Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmed told the Academic Council on Friday that the university would like to revisit the whole proposal, take views from teachers, experts and other stakeholders, and prepare a fresh blueprint before coming back with a well-laid plan.
The proposal included closure of Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies and Dr. K.R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies, and merging them under the Department of Development Studies, apart from restructuring 33 other departments and centres under seven different faculties.
While the Dr. K.R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies was started to promote in-depth studies of inter-related issues concerning the Dalits, minorities, and other marginalised sections of the population, the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies was started with the objective of conducting research and teaching on development issues. Both centres were opened during the UPA-I regime.
The restructuring was proposed by a committee constituted by the V-C to identify overlaps in the objectives and activities of various faculties, departments and centres on their core thematic focus.
Jamia Teachers’ Association secretary and academic council member Prof. M. S. Bhatt said the teachers’ association was not averse to the proposal of re-organisation and creation of new centres, but wanted the same to be done in a transparent manner.
“The V-C agreed to our suggestions and promised to take all the viewpoints into consideration and involve experts to prepare a detailed proposal for reorganisation,” he added.
“The university would like to revisit the proposal and prepare a fresh blueprint”
