Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth Pune
Established	1980
Religious affiliation	State Government of Maharashtra,India
Chancellor	Manohar Joshi Ex-Speaker of Indian Parliament(Lok Shaba)
Vice-Chancellor	Arun Kudale
Location	Pune, India
Website	http://dnyan.in:8080/index.htm

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth is a Private Technical University. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth has openly challenged Indian Education for its ignorance of the private open education university concept. It was founded by Dr. M. D. Apte in 1980, and it is located in Pune, India. "Vidyapeeth" means university in Marathi and Sanskrit, the Indian regional language. The main motto of DV is "education is the birth right of each and every individual". Dr Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar IT computer scientist from India was once ex-vice chancellor he quit it early 2001.

Background of Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth is a registered Society under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860 and a Public Trust registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1960.

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth was established in 1980, with sole objective to impart higher technical education to every desiring student who were otherwise deprived of the same by normal process in the engineering colleges then existing. The founder, Dr. Manohar Apte firmly believed that education is a birthright of every individual. This very belief pushed him to bring this novel, autonomous educational institution, into concrete reality. Dr. Apte further believed that technical education can play a stellar role in uplifting the social level and status of individuals. Education has also been major force that elevates the human mind too, to higher levels . Education for its object has the task of forming characters, stronger minds and affluent careers, and as such, top quality education – irrespective of the financial status of the receiver – is a must for all who desire it.

The cost of education is the main hindrance in its efforts to reach all. Marks obtained by the aspirants is yet another hurdle for those willing to find or make a career. Entangled in these traps, enthusiasm of many individuals gets lost in the process. Dr. Manohar Apte, the founder of Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth analysed the situation from the student’s point of view and in the form of a concrete solution -the Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth. Following the teaching of the great saint Shri. Dnyaneshwar, Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth opened the so far tightly closed doors of technical education, to all those who desired to acquire technical skills. With the experience of almost three decades, Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth (Trust) has analysed the difference between pertinent costs and the procedural / decorative costs and has taken measures to curtail the avoidable costs. To start with, the infrastructure to provide the technical skills was inadequate, options were limited and the procedure was complicated. The numbers of institutions too were very few in this field. This situation made the problem more serious. With such a chaotic background, it was no wonder that the students were looking for some option, which could fulfil their dreams of quality education. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth was the solution for these. The inspiration of the great saint Dnyaneshwar pushed Dr. Apte to bring this novel, autonomous educational institution, into a concrete reality. The well-established Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, has also found a place of special mention in the 8th five-year plan. In 1980, when Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth Trust was established, the situation in the field of engineering education was typically beyond reach of common man. There were no private Engineering Colleges in the State, as seen now- a-days, though the employment potential and demand for the engineering profession was substantially high. While the number of students desirous of seeking admissions to these courses was far too large, there were only handfuls of colleges - with limited seats offering higher technical education. Dreams of many bright students of becoming engineers were shattered because they could not get admission to these Colleges, despite of very good marks. On this background Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth came forward to provide an opportunity to all such students, to pursue their educational career. This was not just setting up another Engineering College affiliated to some University, but it was an entirely new approach to education. It was established on the sole principle and conviction that “the Education is birthright of every individual and it must be accessible to every one who desires it, in the field of his/her choice”. This proved to be an unique idea, not only in terms of career options but also in terms of moderate fees. Vidyapeeth further believed that technical education can play a key role in uplifting the social level and status of individuals. Education basically has the task of forming characters, stronger minds and affluent careers, and as such top quality education is a must for all, irrespective of the financial status. The easily affordable and yet high standard of education provided by the Vidyapeeth has been the turning point in the lives of numerous talented students and will continue to have a far reaching effect on the industrial scenario of the country. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth decided to make use of the unutilised capacity of the existing infrastructure and facilities for conducting classroom learning. Over the years, it has also been observed that technical education as it is received by the student, has remained more theoretical in approach. Various Factories, Builders, Electrical Contractors were approached to provide work experience to the students for practical work. This was a unique and innovative experiment of offering work-experience and academic knowledge simultaneously to the student, to make him industry-effective, immediately on completion of his course. The operations of Vidyapeeth are remarkably economical because of this initiative. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth (Trust) makes no distinction in the admission of students, on the basis of race, sex, caste, creed or nationality. It accepts neither capitation fees nor grants / donations from any person or institution and yet has been able to bring higher technical education within the reach of the large portion of the Society. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth has designed its courses to cover almost the same syllabus as that of the courses of any other contemporary institution. However, it has taken a conscious decision of not seeking any approval / accreditation from any Government department or University, to provide sufficient autonomy to keep updating its syllabus & course structure, which are designed as per needs of the Industry. Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth is not an university under UGC act and nor has received any approval from UGC/AICTE of Council of Distance Learning for its courses.

Salient Features of Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth are

  1)   Reasonable fees.
  2)   Admission on ‘First come first served ‘ basis.
  3)   Flexible curriculum.   
  4)   Experienced and expert faculty.
  5)   No admission barriers such as marks or donations.
  

a. Dynamic Syllabus : Dr. Apte never believed in evaluating new events with old yardsticks. With this guideline the syllabus is changed as frequently as necessary, taking into consideration the past experience and having the right perspective of the social, economical and industrial circumstances. This thought has been well received by the society and the industry at large. In fact this is one of the reasons the Vidyapeeth never sought any affiliation with other University or recognition from the Government.

b. Use of Available Resources : The Vidyapeeth has always insisted upon making good use of the available resources rather than spending on expensive infrastructure. It feels that it can cut the bourdon on the students/parents by doing so. Planning Commission on Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth

Excerpts from the 8th Planning Commission report

Side by side with measures to curb commercialisation, AICTE should also encourage innovative institutional initiatives such as the Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, in Pune. Established in 1980 as an Open University for Technical Education, it has not been recognised by the University system or AICTE so far but the contents of its courses, their flexibility, openness to modern developments, the favorable response from industry, the system of final year work experience, very low costs, its use of students, its rapport with parents are features which elicit admiration and suggest the study of this experiment that deserves to be examined for expanding them on a larger scale in our effort to improve the Technical Education system. AICTE norms should be suitably innovative and cost effective experiments and initiatives.

History

At the time of its establishment in 1980, there were only a few institutions in Maharashtra providing engineering and medical courses to serve a large number of students interested in such courses.

There are many similar institutions now, but DV has not lost its relevance because the current system still makes this education too expensive, and their strict entrance requirements deprive many students from technical education. DV has maintained its autonomous structure to maintain its dynamic nature and to provide education to those who are denied the right to get desired education. Offering Various Engineering Diploma and Degree(BE/B.TECH) it has come up with management courses. Soon coming up Master's and Ph.d courses in Future.

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University , represented by Dr. Ajit Kelkar visited Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth for possible collaboration .

The Chairman of the 8th planning commission Mr. Padmabhooshan Mohan Dharia was in favor of the open university concept and he specifically mentioned to this effect in his report. An excerpt of the same is presented below. He said in his statement"With measures to curb commercialization, AICTE should also encourage innovative institutional initiatives such as the Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, name after a great Hindu Saint "Dnyaneshwar" in Pune. Established in 1980 as an Open University for Technical Education, it has not been recognized by AICTE so far but the contents of its courses, their flexibility, openness to modern developments, the favorable response from industry, the system of final year work experience, very low costs, its use of existing buildings and faculty, its system of selection of students, its rapport with parents are features which elicit admiration and suggest the study of this experiment that deserves to be examined for expanding them on a larger scale in their effort to improve Technical Education system. AICTE norms should be suitably flexible to accommodate such innovative and cost effective experiments and initiatives." Dr.Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar IT computer scientist from India was once ex-vice chancellor he quit it at early 2001. Former chief minister of State and Lok Sabha(Indian Parliament)speaker Manohar Joshi was its chancellor after Dr.Apte. Former Mumbai university vice-chancellor Dr.Snehalata S.Deshmukh was on the governing council till 2004.

The Vidyapeeth was registered with the charity commissioner as a Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth Trust and has been running three-year diploma and four-year degree courses in engineering. The Vidyapeeth used to operate from 33 affiliated Institutes all over the state and also in Hubli in Karnataka. It offers training in civil, mechanical, electrical, automobile, information technology, chemical and instrumentation engineering courses. Also collaborated with Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad once . In 1995 was Granted for MEGSAT projects approved by the Central Government and collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University was done in the same period.In 1992 It's Effectiveness in education appreciated in the 8th Five Year Plan of Govt. of India. Planning Commission view on Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth:" Excerpts from the 8th Planning Commission report Side by side with measures to curb commercialisation, AICTE should also encourage innovative institutional initiatives such as the Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, in Pune. Established in 1980 as an Open University for Technical Education, it has not been recognised by the University system or AICTE so far but the contents of its courses, their flexibility, openness to modern developments, the favorable response from industry, the system of final year work experience, very low costs, its use of students, its rapport with parents are features which elicit admiration and suggest the study of this experiment that deserves to be examined for expanding them on a larger scale in our effort to improve the Technical Education system. AICTE norms should be suitably innovative and cost effective experiments and initiatives." Having more than 300,000 Passed out students been hired by Private and Public Sector companies in IT ,Non-IT Engineering and Manufacturing through several countries. Many Students passed from Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth have opted for Higher Education in Master's or Post Graduations in India and abroad by selected Universities. Today it's compulsion for every DV students to do PG on its degree from any Recognized Universities.

2006 scandal

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth faced problems after 2005 and has been converted to Educational trust cum Technical School till it clears Court case and the fulfills the Court Orders of purchasing of Land and Infrastructure development. It is also order to re-structure the management and academic systems too. The university raised its fees and did not cooperate with the Indian Government's UGC & NAAC, and misused school funds by not providing proper Infrastructure. After the death of Dr. Apte it was handed to Hon. M. Joshi, Ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra state. Students took the D.V. university to High Court for increasing the fees and non cooperation with Government Authorities for making it run under proper university systems. Now it has come up with new Apte College of Engineering and Purchased a land in Alandi a remote area in Pune and is developing it for re-establishing its permanent infrastructures.

Alike Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth other Tech-Schools have come up which are completely autonomous like Abhinav Educational Foundation (Trust),Dnyanda Dnyanpeeth(Trust)and Dnyaneshwar Vidnyanpeeth which are not University under UGC act 1956 not approved by AICTE or DEC yet, and run under affiliation of few Colleges of Engineering.

A big educational complex at Alandi covers almost all the needs of students at the university. Automobile and mechanical workshops for practical sessions provide practical education to the students. Civil laboratories are an important part in providing basics for the civil engineering students. A big library supports all the departments with numerous numbers of books. Conference hall and the hostel facility is also good. A highly functional placement cell makes the future of the students safe. Arts and sports facilities at the campus encourage extra curricular activities. Having very few colleges affiliated to it.

Approval process from A.I.C.T.E. is pending and under observation .

Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth's courses in Engineering are recognized by Maharashtra Self Employment Training Board (Board of Implementation Self Employment Scheme of Government of Maharashtra) and Government of Maharashtra. It does not offer part-time or correspondence courses exclusive regular classes as of now.

Curricula, programs, professors, staffs qualifications, students and curriculum have been evaluated, assessed and certified to be equivalent to Regionally Accredited universities of USA by California University Foreign Credentials Evaluation (CUFCE),The United States Department of Education has recognized CUFCE as an Education Resource Organization with EROD Unique ID. 7499 and the American Association of Higher Education and Accreditation has granted CUFCE the status of an Accredited Institution on August 31, 2009.

References

• LOK Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi Becomes chancellor
• Dr Vijay Bhatkarex VC of DV in Indian Express
• Indian University List
• Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth's MileStones
• Teachers day celebration in DV
• DV Article
• Prof M D Apte, Chancellor-DV on inauguration of NET EDUCATION IN INDIA
• [http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=13613342 Orkut Communityof DV
• INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN TECHNOLOGY(IST) affiliated to DV
• Mod-TECH college of Engineering affiliated to DV
• Abhinav and Hi-tech college of Engineering Affiliates with DV
• DV Gives UGC Courses too