- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, August 05, 2022 : Tripura University, the lone central university, is reeling under financial crunches after the closing down of the Distance Education department since February 2020, said TU’s Deputy Registrar Dr Somdev Banik on Friday.
Replying to a query, Dr Banik told reporters that the department of Distance Education in Tripura University was closed down in February 2020 due to new guidelines introduced by the United Grants Commission (UGC).
“As this university is graded with ‘B’ category by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Distance Education cannot be functional. There are various departments under it and a large number of students were pursuing different courses which led the University to generate internal revenues. But for the last two years and half years, the university is reeling under financial constraints due to which the developmental works also stopped”, he added.
Asked why Tripura University failed to acquire a position among under 100 universities across the country in the NIRF ranking, Dr Banik said “There are five parameters under National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Ministry of Education. Among them, Tripura University scored quite a good points in four parameters that include- 37.72 points in Teaching Learning Resources, 8.44 points in Research and Professional Practice, 45.62 points in Graduation Outcome, and 39.42 points in Outreach and Inclusivity while another parameter is PR Perception acquired 1.12 points only. We have launched a campaign to improve our PR perception. Then the university can definitely bag a position in NIRF”.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at the premises of the University’s council room, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Tripura University Prof Ganga Prasad Prasain said “The lone central university in Tripura bagged the fourth position in terms of applications filed seeking admission through Common University Exam Test (CUET) for 39 post-graduate (PG) courses. The other three universities about TU are- Banaras Hindu University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar in Uttarakhand.”
“Altogether, 2,94,316 applicants sought admission in 39 PG courses with an intake capacity of only 3031 seats in the Tripura University. However, there are 4,597 students studying in 39 departments including Ph.D scholars and 7 international students,” he added.
Sharing the details of National Assessment and Accreditation Council’s team visit, Prof Prasain said “A seven officials from the NAAC PR Team visited Tripura University from Bengaluru for a three-day tour from August 1 to August 3 last. The result and grade are likely to be announced next week.”
He also said “Tripura University Business Incubator (TUBI) was established in 2021 with funding support from the Ministry of MSME, GOI. Two ideas received collective funding support of Rs 26 lakh from the Ministry of MSME and another Rs 4 lakh from the AICTE in New Delhi. TUBI has taken the initiative to make the campus plastic free. As a part of the initiative, each university department is encouraged to use glass-bottled water manufactured in the TUBI.”
Being asked about the introduction of new courses, VC said “There is a plan to open new departments in Social Work, National Security Study, Manipuri Dance and Yoga. We have proposed regarding this for approval from the United Grants Commission and Ministry of Education and probably, these departments will be starting from the 2023-24 academic session.”
In reply to the shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff, Deputy Registrar Dr Banik said “There is a vacancy of 145 faculties and about 70 employees in the Tripura University.”
