Jadavpur University

Infobox University
name = Jadavpur University
motto = To Know is to Grow
established = 1906/1955
type = Public
chancellor = H.E. The Governor of West Bengal
vice_chancellor= Professor Shyamal Kanti Sanyal
country = India | undergrad = 5000 (approx)
postgrad = 4000 (approx)
faculty = 850 (approx)
city = Calcutta | state = West Bengal
campus = Jadavpur (Urban; 58 acres) and Salt Lake (Suburban; 26 acres)
nickname = JU
website = http://www.jadavpur.edu/

Jadavpur University ( _bn. যাদবপুর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) (JU) is a premier educational and research institution in India.It is located in Kolkata, West Bengal and comprises two campuses - the main campus at Jadavpur and the new campus at Salt Lake. Jadavpur University is also closely affiliated to leading research institutes like the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and the Central Glass and Ceramics Research Institute.

Four specialized institutes are affiliated to Jadavpur University -
* Jadavpur Vidyapith College of Education
* Institute of Business Management
* J. D. Birla Institute
* Marine Engineering and Research Institute

Jadavpur University is generally regarded as one of the better Indian research and teaching institution. Specifically, the programs under the Faculty of Engineering and Technology are seen as being amongst the very best in India.

History

The National Council of Education (NCE) was set up in 1906 to impart literary, scientific and technical education on a national basis. The year was significant in Bengal's history as the province had just been partitioned by Lord Curzon, the Governor-General of India, into East Bengal on the one hand (the area that was eventually to become Bangladesh in 1971) and West Bengal and Orissa on the other. This was an extremely unpopular move by the British and was ultimately reversed in 1911, but much damage had been done to Bengal's sensibilities in the meantime. In 1906, a group of Bengali intellectuals including Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick and Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury decided that they would protest the partition of Bengal by setting up an institution that would challenge British rule by offering education to the masses 'on national lines and under national control'. The NCE was set up with Rash Behari Ghosh as its first president.

Almost on the same day a rival organisation, the Society for Promotion of Technical Education in Bengal, was set up by Taraknath Palit, [Haridas Mukherjee and Uma Mukherjee, "The Origins of the National Education Movement" (Calcutta: National Council of Education, 1992)] and under it the Bengal Technical Institute came into being on 25 July 1906. The two organisations fought it out for a few years until the SPTE was amalgamated with the NCE in 1910 and the Bengal Technical Institute passed into its hands. In 1921 the Institute became the first in India to introduce Chemical Engineering as a discipline. By 1940, the institute was virtually functioning as an independent university, and after Indian Independence in 1947, the West Bengal State Legislature, with the concurrence of the Government of India, enacted the Jadavpur University Act, 1955 to convert the institute into Jadavpur University with full autonomy on (December 24, 1955). Since then the university has observed this date in its calendar as Convocation Day.

Today Jadavpur University has successfully established itself as one of the foremost Indian universities with a vast repertoire of courses offered and an enviable list of faculty members. It is well known for its commitment towards advanced study and research as well as teaching.

The University Emblem

The Emblem of the University is a three - flamed lamp encircled by Lotus petals. The Lamp represents Knowledge. The three flames represent-Intellectual Training, Cultivation of Emotions and Imagination, and Spiritual Development. Petals of the Lotus on the periphery represent Fine Arts and Culture. The logo had been designed by the Late Nandalal Bose, the Great Artist of the Bengal School of Painting, who had also been one of the Great Teachers of Kala Bhavan in Rabindra Nath Tagore's Santiniketan. As the university celebrated its Golden Jubilee on December 24, 2005, a special emblem (see above) was created to commemorate the occasion, and the motto 'To Know is to Grow' was coined. This date was also the centenary of the National Council of Education. [Ananda Lal, Rama Prasad De, and Amrita Sen, "The Lamp in the Lotus: A History of Jadavpur University" (Calcutta: Jadavpur University, 2005)]

Organization

The academic departments in JU are organised under three Faculties, viz, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Engineering & Technology and Faculty of Science. Each faculty is headed by a Dean who ensures interdepartmental coordination for proper implementation of the guiding principles formulated by the Faculty Councils, while the constituent departments are under the administrative control of respective Heads of the Departments, who function under the policies framed by the Boards of Studies. The Vice-Chancellor is the chief academic and administrative officer of the university, and is elected from amongst the professors for fixed terms. The Governor of the state of West Bengal is the ex-officio Chancellor of the University, and as such wields no administrative power. Each department offers under-graduate and/or post-graduate programmes, and undertakes research in their respective fields of study.

The Faculty of Arts

The Arts Faculty has contributed significantly to the literary and cultural life of Bengal. The Faculty contains twelve departments, of which Film Studies and Physical Education are fairly recent and six have been identified by the UGC for Special assistance. Following is a complete list of all the departments :

*Department of Bengali
*Department of Commerce
*Department of Comparative Literature
*Department of Economics
*Department of English
*Department of Film Studies
*Department of History
*Department of International Relations
*Department of Library & Information Science
*Department of Philosophy
*Department of Physical Education
*Department of Sanskrit
*Department of Sociology

The Faculty of Engineering & Technology

The history of Jadavpur University with its origin entrenched in the erstwhile National Council of Education, Bengal gives the Faculty of Engineering & Technology a predominant place in the map of engineering education in Eastern India. Between 1955 and 2000 the Faculty has experienced phenomenal growth. Today sixteen Departments are spread over in old campus and at SaltLake campus. During the last decade there has been a major emphasis on interdisciplinary studies and a number of schools and centres have been established. Following is a complete list of the various departments in this faculty:

*Department of Architecture
*Department of Chemical Engineering
*Department of Civil Engineering
*Department of Computer Science & Engineering
*Department of Construction Technology
*Department of Electrical Engineering
*Department of Electronics & Tele-Communication Engineering
*Department of Food Technology & Bio-Chemical Engineering
*Department of Instrumentation and Electronics Engineering
*Department of Information Technology
*Department of Mechanical Engineering
*Department of Metallurgical Engineering
*Department of Pharmaceutical Technology
*Department of Power Engineering
*Department of Production Engineering
*Department of Printing Technology
*Department of Business Management
*Adult Continuing Education and Extension Department

The Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science, Jadavpur University has come a long way since it was created in the year 1956. At present all its departments have been recognised by the University Grants Commission for their important research contributions and advanced studies and have been provided with Special Assistance Programme - a unique distinction for a Faculty. The departments housed under this faculty are :

*Department of Chemistry
*Department of Physics
*Department of Mathematics
*Department of Geological Science
*Department of Instrumentation Science
*Department of Life Science and Bio-Technology
*Department of Home Science

pecial areas of research and advanced studies

The University specialises in Oceanography, Electronics & Telecommunication, Computer Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. It is also one of the only three institutions in eastern India which offers courses and undertakes research in Architecture and Planning. The university has a number of departments recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as Centres for Advanced Study in their respective disciplines, notably English, Comparative Literature and Philosophy. It has been awarded a five star rating by the UGC and was recognised as a University with Potential for Excellence (UPE) in 2005.

In collaboration with the Indian Statistical Institute, the university developed the ISIJU, India's first indigenously made transistor-driven computer, in 1966. This was at the frontier of the technology then available and in recognition the UGC sanctioned a computer centre at part of the electronics department, one of the earliest in the country. In 1988, this finally became an independent department.

The university has received several major grants in recent times to develop new areas and technologies such as [http://www.ccsju.org/ cognitive science] and [http://www.cmccju.org/ mobile computing] . Other areas of emphasis include nanotechnology, archives and records, media and communication, and history of the book.

The School of Cultural Texts and Records has been archiving the papers, memoirs and manuscripts of various noteworthy litterateurs such as Sudhindranath Datta, the editor of the early twentieth century periodical "Parichaya", and Buddhadeva Basu, a noted Bengali poet, and will be creating digital archives of many important cultural and historical documents. It is also building an archive of early recorded classical hindustani music.

The university has one of the earliest (1989) [http://www.swsju.org/ schools of women's studies] in an Indian university, which has recently introduced an M.Phil programme.

The university also houses the eastern regional centre of the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board of India.

A complete list of all the Centres and Schools in JU is given below.

Research Centres at JU

Jadavpur University houses the following inter-disciplinary centres for advanced studies and research :

*Centre for Ambedkar Studies
*Centre for Marxian Studies
*Centre for Refugee Studies
*Centre for European Studies
*Centre of Indology
*Centre for Knowledge Based Systems
*Centre for Human Settlement Planning
*Centre for Energy-Efficient Built Environment
*Centre for Microprocessor Applications for Training, Education and Research
*Centre for Surface Sciences
*Centre for Cognitive Science - [http://www.ccsju.org CCS-JU]
*Computer Aided Design Centre - [http://www.cadcentreju.org CADCENTRE-JU]
*Centre for Mobile Computing & Communication - [http://www.cmccju.org CMCC-JU]
*Centre for Quality Management System - [http://www.cqmsju.org CQMS-JU]
*Condensed Matter Physics Research Centre
*IC Design and Fabrication Centre
*Laser Materials Processing Programme
*Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre
*Plasma Studies Centre
*Relativity and Cosmology Research Centre

chools of Advanced Studies in JU

Jadavpur University houses the following schools of advanced studies:

*School of Archeological Dating
*School of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (SERC, School of Prod. Engg.)
*School of Bio-Sciences & Engineering
*School of Cultural Texts and Records
* [http://www.setju.ac.in School of Education Technology]
*School of Energy Studies
* [http://www.soesju.org School of Environmental Studies]
*School of Industrial Pollution & Control
*School of International Relations & Strategic Studies
*School of Illumination Science, Engineering & Design
*School of Languages
*School of Laser Science & Engineering
*School of Material Science & Technology
*School of Media Communication & Culture
*School of Natural Product Studies
* [http://www.ocean-ju.org School of Oceanographic Studies]
*School of Water Resource Studies
*School of Women’s Studies
*School of Mobile Computing & Communication

Rankings

Jadavpur University is regarded as a premier center of education and research throughout the country primarily because of its strong engineering, management and technology programs. Engineering students consistently get placed in top institutions for graduate studies in India (like Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Institute of Science etc.) and abroad (like MIT, CMU, Stanford, Berkeley, Cornell etc.) Arts and Sciences students have also been known to enroll for graduate studies in places like Jawaharlal Nehru University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (in India) and University of Chicago, University of California Santa Cruz, UT Austin, UIUC, Binghamton University. (in the USA)

Some current rankings are given as follows:

* Faculty of Engineering and Technology ranked 11th in India (Outlook 2007)http://admissionsync.com/2007/08/02/outlook-top-50-govt-engineering-colleges/
* Faculty of Engineering and Technology ranked 11th in India (India Today 2007) http://www.vit.ac.in/indiatoday/indiatoday.htm
* Faculty of Engineering and Technology ranked 18th in India (DataQuest-IDC-NASSCOM 2006) http://www.wes.org/ewenr/06aug/india.htm
* Ranked 4th in India under Industry Interface (DataQuest 2005 http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/28spec.htm
* Faculty of Arts ranked 29th in India (India Today 2008)
* Faculty of Engineering and Technology ranked 14th in India (DataQuest-IDC-NASSCOM 2007)http://www.iitdreams.com/dataquest%E2%80%99-2007-rankings-of-indian-engineering-schools
* Faculty of Engineering and Technology ranked 15th in India (India Today 2008)

Notable past / present faculty

*Dr. Triguna Sen (Mechanical Engineering) - 'The Father of Jadavpur University', first rector and Vice-Chancellor of the university, later Vice-Chancellor of Benaras Hindu University; Rajya Sabha MP, Union Minister of Education, of Petroleum, Coal and Minerals; Padma Bhushan awardee
*Amartya Sen (Economics) - Previously Master of Trinity College, Cambridge & The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel awardee
*Buddhadeva Bose, also spelt 'Buddhadeb Bosu' (Comparative Literature) - Eminent Bengali poet, playwright, novelist, translator and essayist, founder of the Department of Comparative Literature (the first of its kind in Asia, and the only full-fledged one in India), winner of Sahitya Academy award, Rabindra Puraskar and Padma Bhushan
*Father Robert Antoine, SJ (Comparative Literature) - Indologist and linguist
*Sudhindranath Dutta (Comparative Literature) - Eminent Bengali poet, translator and scholar
*Alokeranjan Dasgupta (Comparative Literature) - Poet, Goethe Medal and Sahitya Academy award winner
*Shankha Ghosh (Bengali) - Eminent Bengali poet, winner of Sahitya Academy award (twice), Rabindra Puraskar and Deshikottam.
*Ajit Dutta (Bengali) - Bengali poet
*Nabaneeta Dev Sen (Comparative Literature) - Author known for her travelogues, short stories and poems, Sahitya Akademi and Padma Shree awardee
*Manabendra Bandyopadhyay (Comparative Literature) - Eminent translator, Sahitya Academy award winner
*Paritosh Sen - Leading Indian artist
*Amiya Dev (Comparative Literature) - Vice-Chancellor of Vidyasagar University
*Swapan Majumdar (Comparative literature)- Director of Rabindra Bhavana, Shantiniketan
*Ketaki Kushari Dyson (English) - Academic and creative author, winner of Ananda Purashkar (twice)
*Jasodhara Bagchi (English) - Pioneering Indian feminist scholar and activist, Chairperson of West Bengal Commission for Women
*Malini Bhattacharya (English) - Leading feminist scholar and activist, former Lok Sabha MP, member of the National Commission for Women
*Sukanta Chaudhuri (English) - Translator of Tagore
*Supriya Chaudhuri (English) - Translator of Tagore
*Ananda Lal (English) - Translator of Tagore and theatre critic
*Indira Chowdhury (English) - Consultant Archivist, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; winner of Rabindra Puraskar
*Rimi B. Chatterjee (English) - Novelist and translator, shortlisted for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2007.

Distinguished alumni

*Badal Sircar (Comparative Literature) - Padma Shri winner in 1972, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner in 1968, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Ratna Sadsya winner in 1997. He revolutionized Bengali theatre with his angst-ridden, anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement.
*Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri -(International Relations) eminent political scientist and author, fellow of the University of London.
*Swadesh Chatterjee (Instrumentation Engineering) - President, IAFPE & Padma Bhushan awardee.
*Kabir Suman, formerly Suman Chattopadhyay (English) - Eminent Bengali anti-establishment singer, song writer and composer
*Rituparno Ghosh (Economics) - Film director of international repute (multiple National Award winner).
*Asoke K. Laha (Electronics & Telecommunications) - Founder and Vice-President, Interra IT.
*Bhaskar Chaudhuri (Pharmacy) - CEO, Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences, USA.
*Sohini Haldar (English) - Leading Bengali stage personality and National Award winning film actress
*Subhankar Banerjee (Engineering) - Nature photographer and advocate for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
*Indrajit Hazra (English) - Senior Editor at Hindustan Times & Author of three acclaimed English novels- "The Burnt Forehead of Max Saul", "Garden of Earthly Delights" & "The Bioscope Man"

Accreditation and Recognition

* Declared 'University with Potential for Excellence' by University Grants Commission (UGC)
* Awarded 'Five Star' status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
* First Indian University to earn SYLFF (Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) status from the Nippon Foundation, Japan
* Jadavpur University re-accredited as "A" Grade with a CGPA of 3.61 (on 4) by NAAC in 2008.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.jadavpur.edu Jadavpur University]
* [http://geocities.com/jvcoe/ Jadavpur Vidyapith]
* [http://www.physics.jdvu.ac.in/ Department of Physics, JU]
* [http://www.juetce.org/ Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, JU]
* [http://www.juarch.org Department of Architecture, JU]
* [http://www.complitju.org/Home.html Department of Comparative Literature, JU]
* [http://www.fetsanskritiju.org/ The Engineering culfest Sanskriti official site]
* [http://www.geocities.com/juqc Enquiry, The JU official Quiz Club]
* [http://www.jupconline.com Jadavpur University Photography Club]
* [http://www.jugaa.org Jadavpur University Global Alumni Association]
* [http://www.jueecentenary.org/ Centenary celebration of EE Department,JU.]

ee also

* List of universities in India