A committee monitors research activity in the Bangalore University

Bangalore University

Bangalore University
ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ
Motto	Gyaanam, Vigyanam Sahitam
Established	1886
Type	Public
Chancellor	Governor - Shri Bhardwaj, Shri Hans Raj
Vice-Chancellor	Dr. A.N Prabhu Deva
Students	300,000
Location	Bangalore, Karnataka, India 12°56′19.59″N 77°30′11.45″ECoordinates: 12°56′19.59″N 77°30′11.45″E
Campus	Urban 1,100 acres
Affiliations	UGC, NAAC, AIU
Website	bub.ernet.in

Bangalore University  is a public university located in Bangalore, Karnataka State, India. The university is one of the oldest in India, dating back to 1886. The university is a part of The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and nears the status of "Potential for Excellence" which is reserved for the top 10 universities in India under the Guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

History

The University was opened as the Central College, Bangalore in 1886, by the British Government to award University degrees. It was renamed as the Bangalore University from Central College, Bangalore by the UGC, India on July 10, 1964 by the government under the then State of Mysore to consolidate institutions of higher education in the city of Bangalore.

The university now operates from two campuses - the Central College Campus and the Jnana Bharathi Campus.

The Central College, Bangalore (established in 1886) and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) (established in 1912) (the two original institutions in Bangalore) were subsumed into this university. With the promulgation of the Karnataka State Universities Ordinance of 1975, which aimed at bringing uniformity to all universities in the state, the university lost its federal character and became a state-affiliated university. In 1973, the University moved to the Jnana Bharathi Campus located on 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) of land.

The Bangalore University gave birth to universities like Visvesvaraya Technological University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

The university's Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) has been designated by ISRO to train astronauts for the Indian space program. Bangalore University has been awarded the Sir M Visvesvarya chair from ISRO to perform research in space science.

Because the University produces the largest number of Ph.Ds in India, it has acquired a good reputation among foreign universities. Consequently, the university hosts a growing number of foreign students.

Distinctions

The School of Engineering

The Vice-Chancellor is Dr. N. Prabhudev. In 2001, the university was accredited by NAAC and received Five Star Status. The university then once again reaccredited under the new grading system with a grade A.

Sir C.V.Raman, Nobel Laureate physicist, was associated with the University while working at the Indian Institute of Science.He had announced his Nobel winning work at the University premises based in Central College, Bangalore in 1927.He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1930.

Professor Leonid Hurwicz who served Bangalore University as a Professor in Economics won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007. Professor Hurwicz served as a Professor of Economics at Bangalore University from 1965-1968. During his Fulbright year, he taught classes at Bangalore University. Professor Hurwicz credits his Fulbright experience as "an important phase in my development and a significant influence in the development of my economic theories."

Research

The Jnana Bharathi Campus of the university

A committee monitors research activity in the University. Over 85% of the faculty members of the University have doctoral degrees and they are engaged in guiding research scholars. Faculty members are eligible to guide students after 5 years of teaching and publications in peer reviewed journals.

The number of Ph.D. awarded during the past five years is about 600. There are over 1044 students currently registered for Ph.D. and about one fifth of them are part-time Ph.D. students. The University encourages college teachers from affiliated institutions to carry out research in the post graduate departments. Several teachers of colleges work under the Faculty Improvement Program (FIP) of the Government. About 10% of the students are NET scholars.

The university offers research fellowships to one or two students a department in each academic year to promote research activity. The SC/ST Cell of the University provides financial assistance to the SC/ST students for preparation of the dissertation at postgraduate, M.Phil. and Ph.D. levels. There is one hostel exclusively for research students. A majority of the research scholars are drawn from the jurisdiction area of the University.

The university has developed 5 years integrated Masters courses in science, arts, business and social science.

The faculty published over 1300 papers in learned journals during past five years. However, only about one third of the faculty members are publishing regularly. Faculty members have made original contributions in the fields of Fluid Mechanics (Mathematics), Organo silicon chemistry, peptide synthesis and organo-metallic chemistry (chemistry), Aquatic Biology and Fisheries (Zoology), tissue-culture techniques for rare plants (Microbiology and Botany), Petrology and Geochemistry (Geology), Highway road research (Civil Engineering), mulberry research (Sericulture), collection of rare Kannada manuscripts and cultural folklore artefacts and translation of significant works of literature from Indian languages into Kannada (Kannada) and in Oral History. Awards include the fellowships from National Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy, Royal Society Bursary.

The University monitors research activity of the faculty members through annual performance appraisal reports. Publication linked incentives to the faculty in the form of reduction of teaching load and enhanced funding from the University resources may be considered.

The Department of Sericulture is involved in the extension activities by offering expertise to farmers and officials of the Government with regard to production of silk.

The research activity of the Departments of the University is well recognized in the form of special grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics, Psychology, Zoology, Physics and Geology are receiving special grants from UGC in the form of DRS, SAP and COSIST to the tune of Rs.20 million for the development activities. Several faculty members have major research projects supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), UGC, CSIR, Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources etc. The faculty was able to generate about Rs.80 million during the past five years. The highway road research itself generated over Rs.20 million.

The DSA Center in Fluid Mechanics of the Department of Mathematics conducts research in applied mathematics. Research work by the faculty in the center resulted in 31 publications in the past year in international journals. One of the faculty members associated with the center has been conferred the VV Narlikar award.

In the liberal arts and language departments, Kannada is active in research publications and publishing of books. The department collects rare Kannada manuscripts and cultural artefacts. The Department has published an annotated directory of the manuscripts in its possession and has also set up a small museum of cultural items collected from Karnataka. The department offers expertise to the Government in promotion of the state language.

The Research output of the Department of Political Science specialises in Human Rights, Election Studies, Civil Society, and Women Empowerment in Karnataka Government. The Department has represented India in an international research project – “World Value Survey” in which 65 countries participate. Bangalore University is working as a nodal centre for Asia in this project.

The Department of History is doing research work in the areas of art history, Women Studies, modern history of Karnataka, freedom movement and nationalism.

The contribution from the Department of Sociology is in the areas of Sociology of Women, Family and Kinship, Sociology of medicine, and Sociology of Markets. The department of Social Work has carried out state sponsored projects and some of the findings have been adopted by the Karnataka State.

The Department of communication has a production unit and is producing program capsules for broadcasting through public channels in collaboration with Doordarshan. A studio has been set up in collaboration with Doordarshan. The Department can be made a nodal agency for the production of weekly student magazine, which can act a catalyst for student progression.

The faculty of the university published over 150 scholarly books during the past five years. Some of the books in the fields of Mathematics, Zoology, and Physical Education are used by the undergraduate students.

The university is promoting holding of research symposia/seminars/workshops of national and international level to advance research culture in the Departments. During the last five years, the University has organized about 84 conferences/seminars/workshops/annual meetings of the Indian National Science Congress.

The university is promoting a research attitude among faculty by providing leave to pursue studies in national and international institutes. About 10% of the faculty have availed themselves of this leave. The university has a provision for granting sabbatical leave to senior faculty.

The consultancy services that are offered by the post graduate departments are largely informal.In addition, several departments such as Communications, Psychology, Statistics, Environmental Science, English, Computer Application and Geology offer certificate courses to the public as a part of extension activities and also for generating funds for the University. The city campus at Central College, Bangalore University is used for this purpose.

Facilities

A bio-park has been constructed. In the process, the students have acquired experience in land management for social forestry. The university, for the first time in the country, constructed an NSS Bhavan to promote such activities. Faculties of the Civil Engineering, Geology, Geography, Mathematics, Zoology, Botany and Microbiology have been involved in making Bio-park a reality. Rain water harvesting and ground water recharging are a part of Bio park as also aqua culture and ornithology.

The library of the University is located in the JB Campus and City Campus. The JB campus Library has a floor area of about 6500 sq.mts. and has a collection of 3.25 lakh volumes. It subscribes to over 250 national and international journals. In addition, it also receives 50 journals as gift/on exchange basis.

Prasaranga is a publication unit of the University and is located at J.B. Campus. It publishes text books, university journals and periodicals. In the last 30 years it has published 800 textbooks and reference books in English as well as several articles and Monographs in kannada to cater to the awareness needs of the public. The students of the communication department bring out a news journal regularly. These activities are supported by the printing press of the university.

An inter-library exchange facility is available between the university and the libraries of other institutions located at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc. The library has been computerised since 1992. There are 3.25 lakhs books, 172 Journals, (national-110, international- 62), 68 magazines are subscribed to. The library also provides reprographic facility, computers, audio, video cassette, internet and INFLIBNET ProgrammeE and inter university loan facilities.

There is a Health Care Centre at J.B. Campus which is manned by two resident doctors; services of visiting specialized doctors are available.

At J.B. Campus there is a gymnasium with facilities for indoor games, basketball Courts, Kho Kho ground and swimming pool. At the Central College campus a cricket stadium consisting of turf wicket, basketball court, volley ball court and lawn tennis is available to students. Every year around 45 inter-collegiate sports competitions are held for men and women section. Nearly 1 lakh students from 398 affiliated colleges participate in these sports events.

For inter university tournaments, committees of experts select the Bangalore University teams. The students are given incentives through scholarships, fellowships and fee concessions. They are also provided with placement assistance on the completion of their programmes. B.P.Ed. and M.P.Ed. students get stipend. Sportsmen of the University have competed at the State, Regional, National and International tournament.

The University Science Instrumentation Centre located at Sneha Bhavan at the J.B. campus looks after the maintenance and servicing of the instruments of the user departments in the University. USIC also conducts refresher courses for college teachers and training for interested students.

There are welfare programmes initiated by the institutes like subsidized transport facility for the university staff and students, subsidized canteen facility, free medical aid and reimbursement of medical expenses including on hospitalization, loan facilities from GPF. The University stands guarantee for house building loans sanctioned by the HDFC and also all other nationalized banks and co-operative societies.

There are seven hostels on the J.B. Campus and three on the City campus. There are two men’s hostels at Tumkur and Kolar and one Ladies hostels at Kolar. Hostel canteens are managed by student prefects.

In the City Campus a Grievance Cell is attached to the Examination Wing of the University. Through the university's web-site redressal of grievance and clarification of queries pertaining to examinations, can be obtained.

The Bio-Park is a novel idea proposed on the 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land in the J.B.Campus. Rain Water harvesting and Watershed Management are initiated by the University on the J.B.Campus. The University has also a Robotics and cyber centre, a Yoga centre, and a Gandhian Studies centre.

Library

The Bangalore University Library has two wings, one in the Central College Campus which came into existence in 1858, and one at Jnana Bharathi Campus in 1966 with about 35,000 books.

Bangalore University has evolved a project called BALNET (Bangalore University Library Network program). The project has connected all the libraries in the university within the campus and in the affiliated colleges libraries within the digitalised system.

The library digitization is the first of its kind in India. The project is the brain child of Dr P V Konnur who is the librarian at the university.

The Bangalore University Library has self-check stations, workstations, wireless access connections and audio-visual equipment. Apart from the provision of individual reading areas, group study areas (discussion rooms and reading rooms) are also available to facilitate group-based assignments among students

Bangalore University Library is housed in a Star Moduled functional building which includes wings for reference section stack rooms and reading halls, periodical sections, computer centre and administrative divisions. The collection of books has reached 3,500,000 and grows at a rate of around 5,000 titles annually. The library subscribes to 450 periodicals covering 45 disciplines. About 50,000 bound volumes of back issues of journals are organised in subjectwise arrangement.

Notable Alumni :

Nobel Laureates

• Sir C. V. Raman, Nobel Prize in Physics (1930), researcher at Central College, Bangalore University
• Leonid Hurwicz, Professor in Economics , Bangalore University (1965–1968), Nobel Prize in Economics (2007)

Others

• E P Metcalfe, Principal of Central College, Bangalore University, a student of Nobel Laureate in Physics Sir J.J. Thomson
• P. C. Mahalanobis, Central College, Bangalore University
• C. N. S. Iyengar, Central College, Bangalore University
• H. Narasimhaiah, Padmabhusan
• C. Rajagopalachari, Central College, Bangalore University, Governor General of Independent India (1948–1950), Bharat Ratna (1954)
• Hospet Sumitra
• Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (BA 1881),Central College, Bangalore Univesrity, Bharat Ratna (1954)
• Manouchehr Mottaki, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
• CNR Rao, (B.Sc 1951), Central College, Bangalore University, Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister of India
• Sajjan Jindal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, JSW Steel, a Mechanical Engineering Graduate from Bangalore University
• Anil Kumble, Indian National cricketer
• Rahul Dravid, Indian National cricketer
• Venkatesh Prasad, Indian National cricketer
• Robin Uthappa,Indian National cricketer

Affiliated colleges

Bangalore University lists 70 government colleges, 52 aided colleges and 11 unaided colleges. Notable affiliated colleges include

• University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering
• St. Joseph's College, Bangalore
• Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
• Presidency College, Bangalore
• National College, Bangalore
• Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore
• St John's Medical College, Bangalore