PATNA: In the light of a recent UGC directive, Patna University (PU) has initiated steps for setting up of its research and development cell (RDC).
PU vice-chancellor Girish Kumar Choudhary said the establishment of RDC in this premier university of the state will pave the way for integrating the key elements-research, innovation and technological development- for the all-round progress of the society.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focuses on catalyzing quality research in the nation and lays the framework to strengthen research ecosystems in higher education. The UGC had earlier released guidelines for the setting up of RDCs.
The VC said RDC would act as a facilitator for networking and collaborative research with other national and international institutions working in inter- disciplinary, trans-disciplinary and multidisciplinary research areas. PU proposes to establish collaborations, partnerships and combined ventures for joint research activities through clustering institutions and organizations to facilitate the exchange of students, scholars and faculty.
Research governance in the university will henceforth have a research advisory council (RAC) headed by the VC or his nominee as the apex body of RDC. The Director, nominated by VC from among the distinguished researchers from the university, will head various committees to drive the governance. RDC may form multiple committees to smoothen its functioning with respective committee members nominated by the director and approved by RAC, he said.
It may be mentioned here that the UGC has also suggested the universities to establish a research information management system (RIMS) to collect and manage research-related information, databases, publications, research projects, fellowships, collaborations, patents, thrust areas, innovations etc. It further suggests re-hiring or designating experienced retired and eminent faculty as mentors in order to develop a resilient research ecosystem in the RDCs.
The VC pointed out that PU is striving hard to create a sound atmosphere of research on the campus by motivating all the faculties, old and young, to undertake research projects of societal relevance. The teachers have been asked to apply through the university for research grants to the funding agencies including UGC, DST, DBT, ICSSR and ICHR.
The university, on its own, has also provided a lump sum amount of Rs 2 crore from its internal resources in its annual budget with effect from the current financial year (2022-23) for funding genuine research projects submitted by university teachers. If a teacher fails to receive funds from any national agency, PU will sanction some funds to the scholar from this corpus fund, the VC added.
PU development officer Parimal Kumar Khan pointed out that more than 50 research projects have been submitted by the university teachers in the past one year and at least 10 young teachers have been awarded start-up projects from different agencies. Besides, some teachers have also been awarded major research projects from UGC and DST. A few teachers have also been sanctioned research associateships from the DST. The new initiative of PU would certainly motivate the university teachers to undertake research projects which will ultimately go a long way in improving PU’s academic standard and also improving its NAAC grading, added Khan.
