One ‘Swayam’ course must for teachers & scholars: PU

Patna University (PU) on Monday decided to make at least one course from ‘Swayam’ (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) mandatory for all teachers and research scholars. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of PU held under the chairmanship of vicechancellor (VC) Rash Bihari Prasad Singh.

‘Swayam’, an IT platform launched by the University Grants Commission (UGC), offers various courses for students of all categories. It has already been installed in most departments of PU and several students have got themselves enrolled for some courses of their choice. An online examination will be conducted by the UGC on completion of the courses and certificates given to the successful students.

Now, PU will ensure that all the faculty members, especially the young ones, and the research scholars also join ‘Swayam’ courses for honing their competence and skill development. 

It was also decided in the meeting that PU would adopt ‘Arpit’ (Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching) on ‘Swayam’ platform for university teachers as an alternative to the refresher courses organized by the UGC-Human Resource Development Centre of PU.

Teachers’ participation in refresher courses at regular intervals is mandatory for their promotion under the Career Advancement Scheme.

“The UGC has already declared ‘Arpit’ certificate as an alternative to refresher courses. This provision is likely to be incorporated in the new promotion statutes being formulated at the Raj Bhavan,” the VC said. 

The IQAC also discussed the NAAC score awarded to PU after its recent assessment and ways for improving the performance in the next re-accreditation exercise. The cell observed that PU had scored very high (A+) score in at least three of the seven parameters — curricular aspects, institutional values and best practices and teaching-learning and evaluation. It performed poorly in research innovation and extension services.

Ways to create a research climate in PU were discussed in detail. Teachers, particularly, the young ones, were asked to submit major and minor research proposals to the UGC and other funding agencies for grants. Teachers were also asked to write research papers and submit them to national and international journals for publication.

Earlier, speaking as the chief guest of a workshop organized by Patna College on Monday, the VC announced that services of those teachers, who had completed two years, would be confirmed by the university in November, provided that each of them submitted at least one research proposal for financial assistance.

More than 80 newly-recruited teachers attended the workshop, which was also addressed by PU pro-VC Dolly Sinha, former VC L N Ram, Patna College principal L N Ram and B N College principal Raj Kishore Prasad.


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