JNU receives Visitor’s Award for Best University

For its ‘unrelenting pursuit of academic excellence’

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee persenting Best University trophy to Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, M. Jagadesh Kumar during the Visitor's Awards presentation ceremony at President House in New Delhi on Monday. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar looks on. PTI Photo by Shahbaz Khan(PTI3_6_2017_000260B)

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented the ‘Visitor’s Award for Best University’ to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar received the award on behalf of the university.

Research activity

Speaking on the occasion, the President said areas for research activity should align with developmental challenges of the nation.

Mr. Mukherjee added “that best minds in our universities should apply themselves to work out solutions in areas like sanitation, urban transportation, sewage disposal, cleaning of river systems, healthcare and drought-resistant farming”.

Good performance

The President said that JNU was adjudged the best university for its unrelenting pursuit of academic excellence.

Urging the university to continue the “good work”, Mr. Mukherjee said JNU showed outstanding performance on all key parameters including the quality of students and faculty, training of faculty, citations, publications, research projects, foreign collaborations, seminars and innovation exhibitions.

Other awards

The ‘Visitor’s Award for Innovation’ was presented to Deepak Pant, Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh.

The ‘Visitor’s Award for Research’ was jointly received by Shyam Sunder, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, and Niranjan Karak, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University.

In his speech, Mr. Mukherjee said many central universities set up in the recent years may not be in the reckoning for top honours immediately, but they must start participating in the rankings seriously.

Book release

This would provide them a framework for academic management along global best practices, Mr. Mukherjee added.

A book was also released at the event. It contains memoirs of 18 former Vice-Chancellors to provide valuable lessons to current academic leaders.