The start of an academic year is a good time- things seem fresh, even if we have been here before, and its a time for new beginnings. The rains have really washed things clean, and the whole environment looks and feels special. So before anything, welcome to all the new students, and welcome back to all the returning students! The campus has not been the same without you… Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
And what better way to start than with the announcement of the Chancellor’s Awards. From this year onwards, the University has instituted five awards for younger faculty, for teaching and research. Nominations will be invited later this year, and the awards will be announced at the convocation in October by the Chancellor, Prof. Hanumantha Rao. This is one small way in which to recognize excellence, and all of us will have a say, both the students as well as other colleagues.
There is a group of happy campers who have been setting up some new resources for the campus. These are in development, so no criticism please, at least not just yet, but here is a list.
- All courses that are offered at the University will find their way to the Courses Page: http://courses.uohyd.ac.in
There are way too many gaps, but we also need volunteers to put up the information. Write in and offer to help if you can.
- The University needs a place to engage in discussion, and soon we will have a Connect UoH site, where all can post comments, raise issues, get information, and so on…
- A job portal, both on G-HAN, as well as more specific to the University.
And, starting along with the semester, the conference season gets going as well! Perspectives in Nonlinear Dynamics, is a meeting that we are organizing along with the TIFR, Hyderabad, from 15 to 18 July. This edition of PNLD is the fourth in a series, and the aim of the meeting (that is being held in the Science Complex) is to focus on the open issues in nonlinear science and to identify the directions in which the field is developing. The themes that are being explored at the conference include Chaos, Nonlinear Phenomena in Engineering Sciences and Applications, Nonlinear Phenomena in Biological and Medical Sciences,Synchronization, Bifurcations, Time-delay systems, Extreme events, and so on. All are welcome!
Yes, it is a new beginning and a big Welcome to all. Having just had the first class for newbies today and telling them before starting the coursework about The 10 Commandments, e.g., eating well before coming to class, sleeping well for 6-8 hrs uninterrupted, having fun while studying, focusing, not having to rely on supplemental/improvement exams but giving all their best to main ones and so on and so forth, I wish we could change one thing. We do not have Annual Day events, where for 5-10 days there are competitive stuff in sports, music, creative arts followed by Annual Day where the faculty and students can participate and just relax. This can be at Departmental or at school level, and the Annual Day events are a must in other Institutes and Universities. There is a two-day ‘Sukoon’ but it comes and goes and we are not even aware, besides we do not get to even experience that. I just wonder….
I loved your “The rains have really washed things clean”
Unfortunately it could not clean the front entrance of the school of life sciences enough. It is a nightmare for most of us, the lesser mortals, to wade through the mud and slush to the main entrance of the building.
I heard somewhere that the wheels of the chariot of the great Yudhisthira (the one steady in war) never touched the earth. I do not know whether it is for the sake of cleanliness or as a matter of shock absorber, but I have always suspected this to be the main reason for the great man of Mahabharata being detached from reality. You are welcome to visit us at the new building, one of these days on foot, perhaps along with other dignitaries from the administration.
I think there is something like conservation of cleanliness. You cannot make something clean without making something else dirty. For example, the canteen in the shopping complex in the south campus. Just some open space would have been much cleaner. But I digress. I have the same feeling about our toilets (I mean the common ones), probably a few trees planted along the roads would have been much better.
We actually needed rains like Uttarakhand.
What to say… there was ample time to plan the approach to the building- after all it didn’t spring up overnight! Its easy enough to see what needs to be done, and not that difficult to do it too…
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kozhikode/Calicut-university-grants-maternity-leave-to-women-students/articleshow/21130395.cms
Dear Sir, can we have something similar in the University?
Sure Soumya, lets bring this up in the next AC.
A few years back me and some my colleagues from Kolkata were looking for the Integrated Master’s Curriculum on the UOH web site while considering admission prospects for our children. We did get some idea after we wrote to the VC. It is nice to know of the UOH course catalog initiative. I hope in the near future the entire curriculum along with the course contents becomes available. This will give the prospective students an idea about their course of study and may even attract students from far and wide.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
We knew that this is a good initiative but we have heard excuses that run somewhat like as follows:
1. People may copy our course contents.
2. People may get to know highly sensitive research and teaching materials.
3. If the students are told about the contents of the course, they may not come to the class and prefer to read and learn the subject on their own.
The last one takes the cake.
Today many #1 (there are too many #1’s over there) American universities publish their full class lectures on the web- for people to copy freely. Now we know whey they are #1! I did not know earlier (today I found out from the BBC site) that America means desire. Culturally we damn desire but then all of you can see the result…
We should now start putting our classes and the full lectures on the web. For the whole world to copy. Well, that may happen if we are close to being #1.
In today’s age of Information explosion none of the above points are tenable. Both at the UG and PG level the course contents are more or less standard across most of the Indian and US universities. Classified research is never available in a public domain. Making the course contents available enables a comparison as to how much more or less is covered and at what point of the curriculum. That apart, the present day student is more interested in the methodology used for administering the course in terms of innovative projects, term papers, presentations. Many of them are averse to the stereo-type formal classroom teaching. Several novel methods are being tried to stimulate the students interest and fire their imagination. Being a Numero Uno university requires lot of perseverance, commitment and dedication both by the teacher and the taught. This happens only after several years of striving. Rome was not built in a day. I hail the UOH decision to have a course catalog in the public domain and hope the information base is fully updated.
I am happy that Chancellor’s Awards have been instituted. Would serve to encourage the faculty. But it is for Young Faculty and does that mean age should be under 40 years? What about those who are slightly over-age and are serving with zeal and enthusiasm, the circumstances around them notwithstanding? They also ought to be given opportunities to encourage themselves.