Vice Chancellor,
S.P. Pune University (August 2006 –
June 2009)
Dr. Narendra Jadhav served as the Vice Chancellor of the
University of Pune, which is a premier institution of higher education in
India and the largest traditional University in the world with 6,50,000
students, 536 affiliated Graduate Colleges and 330 Recognized Institutes.
After taking over as the Vice Chancellor, in August 2006, Dr. Jadhav
placed two principal objectives before himself: one, to place the University
of Pune on the global map as a Center of Excellence, and second, to bring
the University out of its splendid isolation and make it directly responsive
to the ever changing societal needs. Accordingly, Dr. Jadhav took several
far reaching initiatives aimed at improving the access (e.g. through
“Education Guarantee Scheme” for the underprivileged youth) and quality of
higher education, (e.g. through a complete revision of all 484 curricula
with involvement of relevant industry), and promoting the research
environment, (e.g. through innovative financial incentives).
Dr.
Jadhav followed a dynamic marketing strategy so as to place the University
of Pune on the Global Map. There are more than 14,000 foreign students from
102 countries studying at the University of Pune. A Campus of the University
of Pune has been set up in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2009. As
Vice-Chancellor Dr. Jadhav visited Austria, China, France, Germany, Japan,
South Korea, South Africa, Sweden, UAE and USA during his tenure of 33
months. Several collaborative arrangements with the globally reputed
educational institutions have been established and effort was made to widen
their geographical spread and functional scope. Not surprisingly, University
of Pune emerged as the most favoured destination for foreign students coming
to India. More than 40 per cent of the foreign students coming to India
enroll in the University of Pune alone!
Social Initiatives
As
a flagship program of the University, an ambitious “movement” styled,
‘Samarth Bharat Abhiyan’- a comprehensive rural development program, was
launched for directing the youth power towards constructive social
engagement in the rural areas. Under the Abhiyan, all colleges adopted one
village each in their vicinity for all-round socio-economic development. In
all, around 500 villages were adopted. A 15 Point Program was drawn which
covered, inter alia primary education, tree plantation, water management,
sanitation facilities, communal harmony and the like. This movement involved
more than half a million students and teachers, and senior citizen
volunteers working throughout the year in the chosen village with the locals
and the government machinery, NGOs active in the relevant field, and
endeavouring to bring about a complete transformation. The results were most
encouraging (e.g. more than 7,00,000 saplings planted and 190 villages made
Nirmal Grams).
A unique and innovative Soft–Skills Program for
Personality Development of the students was also initiated by Dr. Jadhav,
wherein students from rural areas, socially disadvantaged groups and
economically poor strata of the society were chosen for an intensive
fifteen-days training program and outside experts were invited to impart
training in Conversational English, Techniques of Interview and Group
Discussion and Overall Personality Development. Personality Development
Centres have been established in 200 colleges.
Another path-breaking
decision taken by Dr. Jadhav as the Vice Chancellor was to provide
scholarships of Rs. One crore (US$2,00,000) to the girl students at the
Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate levels. Under the Scheme, scholarships of
Rs. 5000/- each were awarded to 2000 girl students per year. A special
feature of this Scheme was that 30 per cent of the total amount was
especially reserved for daughters of Devadasis, Prostitutes and women
affected with HIV.
Yet another socially relevant unique program
initiated was Senior Citizen Centre. The Center catered to the felt needs of
the large and growing body of Senior Citizens. The Center engaged Senior
Citizens in five different activities: One-day workshops on health and
personal financial management; Three months Certificate Programs of their
choice (e.g. Indian History, Culture, Philosophy, Religion and the like); a
special Ph.D. Program for senior citizens with relaxed entry norms; Teaching
public at large under Adult and Continuing Education Program, and Working as
volunteers in the Samarth Bharat Abhiyan.
Dr. Jadhav also launched
an ambitious Triple Connectivity Program, connecting the Main Campus with
all affiliating colleges and an Information Technology enabled Services
(ITES) program in collaboration with CISCO and several vocational courses
for Entrepreneurial and Technician Development, especially for high school
drop-outs. In the wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, Dr. Jadhav
initiated the process of establishing Centre for Internal Security aimed at
creating a Think Tank, training all college students in Disaster Management
and creating awareness among the public at large. Most of these innovative
schemes were appreciated by the Government and are being adopted by all
other State Universities in Maharashtra.