Officiating Vice-Chancellor of Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) Jatin Bhatt talks about the first decade since the establishment of the varsity, the importance of social sciences and expansion plans of the university.
AUD will turn 10-year-old this year. In the beginning it was all about getting classrooms to fill up but now the focus is on getting quality students. How do you plan to get students to pick AUD as their first choice?
The founders of a new university had quite a challenge, especially when you are trying to carve out a niche for yourself among already established social science giants in the Capital. Fair amount of work went into building the character of the university that it is known for today. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It did take some time for us to build a reputation but word of mouth helped and we did not do any large-scale publicity. It helps that being a State-funded university, 85% of seats are reserved for students whose domicile of origin is Delhi.
AUD has a liberal arts approach to many of its core BA courses. Do you feel this is what makes AUD stand out?
The variety we offer in some of the foundation courses and electives offer a good value to students that gives them a larger world view and options. School education does not make you think all that much, so we expose students to various future opportunities. Students mature better and understand the world better after studying a variety of courses. It is the very essence of education at AUD. Close interaction with faculty since we have small numbers also helps with better outcomes.
Since the Karampura campus was opened, AUD has been focusing on a lot of BVoc courses. Is this in keeping with the vision of the Aam Aadmi Party government of pushing skill-based courses that make students industry ready?
It is not only about providing students with a set of skills but also about inculcating in students a set of ethics, beliefs and values via interaction with students and faculty from other programmes. We believe that our courses will give students a better perspective unlike in other training centres, where it is all about learning a skill. Being a vocational course, students being job ready is important and we have a 100% paid internship record. Our first batch will finish in 2019 and we hope the efforts that our faculty put into building a large network and tie-ups will pay off.
We also have a new programme, Early Childhood Education and Development, which is a first and looks to fill a void in the society, as there are a large number of working parents and there is a need of preschool education. It is a course where we would like to encourage enterprises so students go out and start their own preschools.
If you look at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, there are a lot of complaints from students and teachers over a deadlock with the administration on multiple issues. As officiating V-C, how will you not let that seep into AUD?
Institutions cannot be top-down. One of the conscious decisions taken in the early years of AUD was that we are going to be a university which is self-governed. This essentially means that we stick to a certain set of values, processes and systems, and that must be something that is non-negotiable and owned by everybody. The very working of the university must be a collective responsibility where everybody knows that if we let these values slip, it has its own implications. It is a belief that percolates down to the faculty and is something that is nurtured, cherished and has a continuity that no single V-C or any other leader destroy. Having said that, we must be mindful as we grow and take everybody aboard.
AUD had its first students’ union election this year. In a social science university, it is only inevitable to have protests on a range of issues from within the varsity and outside. How does AUD view the forming of a students’ union?
The students’ union election was conducted as per the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. We believe that protests and speaking your mind are a very important part of a social science university, which shows maturing of the mind and an individual, and collective growth of a student. We want informed, engaged and responsible students in the country and social science universities have a huge role to play in that.
The Delhi government has been talking about revamping higher education as there are insufficient university seats in the Capital to deal with the number of student finishing schools. Will AUD be on a huge expansion drive to fill this gap?
We have worked out a seven-year plan in which we need to do both — consolidate as well as expand.
At the moment, the space we have is limited. By 2019 or the year after that, we will be saturated in terms of the number of students, so that will be a limitation.
Simultaneously, we are exploring campus development projects in two locations — Dheerpur and Rohini.
There are many schools at AUD that are looking to expand. Especially in schools which have masters’ programmes, we are looking to introduce bachelors’ programmes. We will have to see how to strategically manage the expansion given our limitations.
We will have about 15,000 students by 2023-24. We are also looking at community programmes and programmes that are online as well as in person which will help build numbers.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been emphasising that public-funded universities must be able to generate their own funds. Has there been any pressure on AUD to start self-financing courses?
At the moment, no. We must acknowledge the seriousness and value that the AAP government has given to education. They have done a great job dealing with school education and have already started initiatives on higher education and the institute they are funding.
Having said that, eventually the future of education in the country, as things stand, will require institutions in some measure to generate their own resources.
Whether or not the government is asking us to do that, we are mindful of it and will have to look at possible avenues.
