Kolhan University vice-chancellor Father Beni Ekka

Jamshedpur, Dec. 21: The year-end has brought good news for Kolhan University.

The newly created university in Chaibasa will soon receive its first recognition from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Officials of the university said they had received a verbal confirmation from AIU. The formal letter will be sent within a week. Last month, the university had applied for recognition from AIU.

“We had approached the association early last month and had also sent a letter and the charges required for seeking the membership. This is the first recognition that the university is getting after its formation,” said S.S. Razi, the registrar of Kolhan University.

“This recognition is crucial for us. It will give us a chance to share the same platform with other universities. As a result, we will be able to get to know about their activities and can take examples from them to better our standard of teaching,” Razi added.

AIU was a result of the deliberations of a conference of the vice-chancellors of universities convened by Lord Reading, the then Viceroy of India, at Shimla in 1924. Ranchi University is already a member of the association.

The member list of AIU includes several traditional universities, open universities, professional universities, Institutes of National Importance and deemed-to-be universities. In addition, there is also a provision for granting “associate membership” to the universities of neighbouring countries.

Universities aim for the membership of AIU because the association is involved in evaluation of courses, standard of teaching and syllabus and acts as a liaison between the institutes of India and the government.

Kolhan University is also trying to seek recognition from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

“It will take some time but we have already started the formalities. People may have doubts whether the courses of our university have the same value as compared to those offered by other institutes recognised by the UGC. But all colleges under Kolhan University are affiliated to the UGC and we will also get the recognition soon,” the registrar said.

RU to sign pact

Ranchi University today decided to sign an MoU with American Institute of Indian Studies.

The decision was taken at its syndicate meeting held on the campus. Apart from this, 13 other decisions were taken in the meeting. They related to granting of promotion to the teachers, extraordinary leave without pay, lien and purchase of vehicles.