Jawaharlal Nehru University - JNU

About Jawaharlal Nehru University - JNU

JNU was established in 1969 by an act of parliament. It's primary objective was to promote the study of principles of national integration, social justice, secularism, democratic way of life, international understanding and scientific approach in solving the problems of society. Over the years, it has been a model university in terms of academic excellence. Being unique of its kind in India, it is truly multinational and multicultural. Another objective of the founders of this university was to make it a premier institution of higher learning for students of the erstwhile Third World countries. The university from the very beginning was meant to be a centre for Third World studies. A third objective of the university has been to promote research and teaching leading to the increasing engagement of its students and teachers in higher level academic work and national and international policy making.

In the early 1970s, when JNU opened its doors to teachers and students, frontier disciplines and new perspectives on old disciplines were brought to the Indian university system. The excellent teacher-student ratio at 1:10, a mode of instruction which encouraged students to explore their own creativity instead of reproducing received knowledge, and an exclusively internal evaluation were a new experiment on the Indian academic landscape; these have stood the test of time. The very Nehruvian objectives embedded in the founding of the University, national integration, social justice, secularism, the democratic way of life, international understanding and scientific approach to the problems of society had built into it constant and energetic endeavour to renew knowledge through self-questioning.

Infrastructure

Annual admission tests are simultaneously held at 37 centres spread across the length and breadth of the country. Special care is taken to draw students from the underprivileged castes and ethic groups by reserving 22.5 per cent of seats for them. Overseas students form some 10 percent of the annual intake. Students' hostels and blocks of faculty residences are interspersed with one another, underlining the vision of a large Indian family.

Even as class room teaching and, work in the library and the laboratories have their share in the mode of instruction, personal interaction between students and teachers and among students themselves form an extremely important and lively medium of generation and transmission of knowledge. Sometimes high decibel disputes about the validity of theoretical premises or cultural substructures of a particular scientific or economic thesis do spill over from the class and hostel rooms onto the middle of the campus roads, at times causing traffic bottlenecks. Happily, these have never caused a road accident! The annual Students Union elections are conducted entirely by students.

Schools and Special Centers in JNU

1. Arts and Aesthetics
   
2. BioTechnology
   
3. Computer and Systems Sciences
   
4. Environmental Sciences
   
5. Information Technology
   
6. International Studies
   
7. Language, Literature and Culture Studies
   
8. Life Sciences
   
9. Physical Sciences
   
10. Social Sciences
    

Special Centers

1. Center for the Study of Law and Governance
   
2. Center for Molecular Medicine
   
3. Center for Sanskrit Studies
   
4. Center for International Trade and Development(CITD)

Facilities and Campus

The once rugged terrain of the Aravali hill range, where the 1000 -acre campus is housed is now lush green. Parts of it hosts dense forests known as the JNU ridge, sustain a birdwatcher's paradise and wild life. It is home to over 200 species of birds and mammals like nilgai, jackal, mongoose, peacock as well as a large number of snakes.

JNU is located in the southern part of New Delhi, Capital of India. and is well connected by road from the three main Railway Stations, i.e. New delhi and Delhi and Nizammudin railway station as well as the Inter-state Bus Terminus of Delhi. It is also a short distance away from the Indira Gandhi International Airport. In short JNU is easily accessible from anywhere in the world. The JNU campus is a microcosm of the Indian nation, drawing students from every nook and corner of the country and from every group and stratum of society.

Hostel - The University hostel system includes a number of Hostels for Boys and Girls and one complex accommodating married students and one complex is coming up shortly for post Doctoral Fellows. These are spacious, well furnished hostels. Apart from hygienic foods, hostels provides recreational facilities includes TVs, indoor games, health Club, and PCOs etc. Each hostel has its live-in wardens, a member of faculty who administers the hostels.

Most of the hostels are located in areas named after geographical directions (Uttarakhand, Purvanchal, Paschimabad and Dakshinapuram), while two are located in an area now renamed Saraswatipuram and are correspondingly named after different rivers of India: Ganga, Yamuna, Jhelum, Sutlej, (in Uttarakhand) Kaveri, Periyar, Godawari, (in Dakshinapuram) Narmada, Sabarmati, (in Saraswatipuram) Tapti, Mahi-Mandavi, Lohit, Chandrabhaga, (in Paschimabad), Brahmaputra, and Mahanadi (in Poorvanchal).

The University Library - It is a Knowledge Centre which has rich resources mainly in Social Sciences, Humanities and Sciences. It is a nine-storey tower building and has a carpet area of about one lakh sq. ft. It is situated in the midst of the academic complex of the University and is the hub of all the academic activities of the University. Established in 1969, it incorporates the library of the prestigious Indian School of International Studies which was later merged with Jawaharlal Nehru University. The JNU Library is a depository of all Govt. publications and publications of some important International Organisations like WHO, European Union, United Nations and its allied agencies etc. The Library has recently established a CyberLibrary at the Ground Floor with 200 Computers for the students and research scholars to access the available online resources.

Helen Keller Unit - To meet the special needs of the visually challenged students of the University, a separate Unit named Helen Keller Unit has been established in the newly renovated Reading Hall at the Ground Floor. Twenty computers and scanners have been installed with screen reading and speech software to facilitate visually challenged scholars in their studies in this special Unit. The Library has subscribed twenty two international online databases covering about 10,000 full text journals. Besides that, access to 4,500 full text scholarly electronic journals from 25 publishers across the globe is available, under the UGC-INFONET E-journals Consortium. Computerized Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) can be accessed from all the Schools/Centres under University Wide Area Network.

Other Facilities

Guest Houses - The University has three Guest Houses, Aravali Guest House and Aravali International Guest House situated on the campus adjacent to the academic complex. The other one is Gomti Guest House which is located behind Sapru House,in the heart of Delhi,adjacent to the National Museum of Natural History, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. These Guest Houses are primarily meant for official guests of the Jawaharlal Nehru University /participants of Seminars / Workshops/ Symposia / Conferences / Training Programmes Organised by the University / Centres / Departments as well as those sponsored by the UGC.

Research Scholars/Teachers from other educational/academic institutions who come to Delhi for academic work and are sponsored by their respective institutions may also be accommodated provided they write for reservation of rooms to the Public Relations Officer, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India. Such requests should be accompanied by a Bank Draft of Rs.100/- or 20% of the total rental, whichever is higher, in favour of the Finance Officer, JNU. In cases where an advance money has not been deposited, allotment shall be purely provisional and accommodation shall be provided subject to the availability of rooms at the time of arrival of the guests. Such provisional bookings are liable to be cancelled without assigning any reason in case the University needs the rooms for its own use.

The University Health Centre - started working as a medical care unit in 1973 for students. Soon, the facility for consultation and lab investigation was extended to people who are residing in the campus. The Health Centre right from its inception has been to provide comprehensive health care i.e. preventive, curative and promotive services under one roof to students only. However, for curative purpose of all University employees there is also CGHS dispensary.

Sports - The Sports office is headed by Ms. Damayanti V. Tambay, an ace International Badminton player and Arjuna Awardee and assisted by Dr. Vikram Singh, Astt. Director, Physical Education. The sports office makes all efforts to encourage students for participating in sports by organizing and controlling different sports and related events, development and maintenance of sports infrastructure on the campus and also controlling the participation of students in the extra murals etc.
The Sports complex has a Sports Stadium with office, a Yoga hall, Weight Lifting and Power Lifting hall and space for games like Cricket, Football, Tennis, Athletics & Volleyball.

Apart from facilities for fitness and games at the Sports Complex the sports equipment is also available in each of the hostels which has Indoor Games like Table Tennis, Chess and Carom. The University has an “Incentive and Reward Scheme” in which outstanding student players are rewarded with cash, track-suit and blazer for securing top positions and for representing the state and country. The sports office organizes clinics and workshops on leadership, officiating and coaching of games and sports, women sports festivals and also the sports events for the differently able JNU community.

HEPSN - It stands for Higher Education for Persons (disabled) with Special Needs. Jawaharlal Nehru University is dedicated to providing full accessibility to all of its programs and services for individuals with disabilities. Part of this goal includes the provision of web services which are accessible by those with disabilities. Disabilities involving vision, hearing, mobility, or other areas may necessitate the use of adaptive software and/or hardware, University is running HEPSN Scheme on the recommendations of UGC to create awareness among functionaries of Higher Education about specific educational needs of persons with disabilities.

UGC-CSIR Junior Research Fellowships - Only those candidates will be eligible for the award of fellowships who qualify in the national level test conducted by the University Grants Commission/CSIR and other similar test for award of Junior Research Fellowship as per the norms of the relevant organization.

Extra Curricular Activities

Cultural Activities - There are 9 cultural clubs in JNU - The programs of these clubs are organized by the Convenor and the members of the respective club. They are the Drama Club, Music Club, Film Club, Fine Arts Club, Photography Club, Literary Club, Debating Club, UNESCO Club and Nature & Wildlife Club. Other cultural groups: IPTA (Indian Peoples’ Theatre Association), Bahroop Arts Group, Orissa Sanskrutika Parishad(OSP).

Achievements

Highly Ranked University - JNU is ranked high among universities in India and also among Asian universities. International league tables produced in 2006 by the London-based The Times Higher Education Supplement(THES) placed JNU among the world's top 200 universities. For life and biological sciences, JNU is ranked among the top 100 universities in the world. JNU's School of Social Sciences is at the 57th position among the world's top 100 institutes for social sciences

Centers for Excellence - Several Centres in these Schools have been declared by the UGC to be Centres of 'Excellence'. These are Centre for Historical Studies, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Centre for Political Studies, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, all in the School of Social Sciences. In addition three Science Schools--School of Physical Sciences, School of Life Sciences and School of Environmental Sciences have also received the UGC recognition as Centers for Excellence.