Amid Khalsa University row, academic council approves new courses
GO AHEAD Meeting, chaired by VC Walia, approved syllabus for PhD courses, 18 different programmes and nine professional courses
AMRITSAR: Despite the state government’s decision to scrap Amritsar-based Khalsa University, the academic council of university approved undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree courses on Friday.
The meeting, chaired by vicechancellor Gurmohan Singh Walia, approved syllabus for PhD courses, 18 different programmes and nine professional courses.
This is the second incident which indicates that the Khalsa University authorities are in direct confrontation with the Captain Amarinder Singh government. Earlier, Walia was appointed the V-C after his predecessor SS Chahal resigned on April 8. This despite the government’s decision to scrap the Khalsa University Act, 2016, to “save” the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College.
In a release issued here, Walia said the university will be starting new courses in education, engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, law, physical education, management and technology, commerce, agriculture, fashion designing and electronics.
“The university, which started functioning in 2016 following the passage of the Khalsa University Act, had started a number of programmes which it will carry on in the next session too. The academic council discussed and approved various courses for the current and the new academic session,” said the V-C.
He said the focus was on new professional and skill-oriented courses to enable youth to get jobs.
The academic council also gave V-C the power to depute paper-setters and examiners. Four research dissertations in fields of education and physical education were also given the go-ahead.
Among others who attended the meeting included register Jaswinder Singh Dhillon, dean Raghbir Singh, professor, Panjabi University, Patiala, BS Bhatia, director, youth welfare, Sukhbir Kaur Mahal, director research.