I mean business,” said Professor Talat Ahmad, the new Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, the only minority Central university of the country. A renowned geologist, Ahmad said he is keen on introducing new faces and and develop a second line of leadership at the university. For this, the vice-chancellor has made some administrative changes and more measures — such as fixing the tenure of administrative positions to three years - are likely to follow. “Teachers should spend some time teaching also and I think three years is a good time. This will give everyone a chance to grow and will create a second line of leaders so that a vacuum is not created when they leave,” the V-C said. He emphasised the need for the university to enhance research so that it can be count among the best institutions nationally. “There is scope for growth in the field of research, for both students and teachers, and we have to have a very strong thrust in that direction,” Ahmad said. He said research publications will now be the benchmark for promotion of teachers at the university. This will be a key development as the university submits itself for NAAC accreditation. Ahmad was appointed as Jamia V-C after a three-year stint as Vice-Chancellor of University of Kashmir before which he taught at Delhi University for 10 years. He announced a choice-based credit sharing system for the university to facilitate more inter-disciplinary flexibility for students. While the meta university concept stays, with a single course running between Delhi University and Jamia Millia, the vice-chancellor has expressed his wish to start a collaboration between the four prominent universities of Delhi — JNU, Jamia, DU and IIT-Delhi. “We will be joining hands with these universities to give students freedom in their academic pursuits as mandated by the University Grants Commission,” he said. However, the implementation of the credit-based system could take up to two years. Commenting on the minority character of the institution, he said all minorities have a right to have their own system “as long as we don’t close doors to others”. The V-C also said the university will start a students’ union on the campus although the “form” in which it will be set up is yet to be decided. Among other measures, Ahmad has also proposed a medical college hospital at Jamia. He said a facility like this will benefit the community around the university as well as the city. Ahmad said many courses at the university are being run from centres which function like islands. These centres will be brought under the umbrella of a “school system” so that all allied courses are run from the same department.
