RN Bhagat

Dhanbad/Bokaro, Jan. 13: Coal capital Dhanbad may be looking forward to a postgraduate wing being set up by Vinoba Bhave University, but Bokaro will have to wait for some more time before it gets its own centre for higher studies.

Bowing to the long-standing demand of students of Dhanbad, Vinoba Bhave University vice chancellor R.N. Bhagat had on last Friday promised to set up a centre for postgraduate studies in the coal capital.

The new centre, the second to be set up by the varsity after one in Hazaribagh, will boast state-of-the-art facilities and will offer postgraduate courses in 22 subjects.

In the absence of a postgraduate centre, the students of Dhanbad had to earlier travel almost 200km to Hazaribagh to get their mark sheets and certificates .

But, with the vice chancellor’s announcement last week, students are now looking forward to the postgraduate unit being set up, the funds for which have already been sanctioned.

The only hitch before the university is the mutation of a 3.50acre land which had been zeroed in on by the university administration to set up the new centre.

“Apart from the plot of land which has been earmarked for the postgraduate centre, we are also in the look out for other suitable plots so as to start operating the centre as soon as possible,” said Bhagat talking to The Telegraph.

He added that state human resource minister Baidyanath Ram too was very keen for the project and was extending all help possible to them.

However, when prodded for a timeline as to when Bokaro might see a similar centre coming up, Bhagat chose to remain non-committal stating the district might have to wait for at least one more year before any such plan is mooted and put into action.

“There is a severe dearth of skilled teachers to teach at the postgraduate level. There are a lot of posts that are lying vacant with the university,” Bhagat stated.

He added that his prime focus now would be to fill up the vacant posts at the earliest.

“It will be wrong for me to promise anything at this juncture. But we will be inviting applications for the vacant posts soon,” said the vice chancellor.

He added that once they have sufficient number of teachers the proposal of opening a postgraduate centre in Bokaro will be mooted.

Bhagat signed off by stating that Vinoba Bhave University, for present, would be concentrating on providing quality education in all its constituent colleges and sticking to its academic calendar by conducting and publishing the results of examinations on time.