Delhi Univesity
The University of Delhi informally known as Delhi University is a public central collegiate university, located in New Delhi, India. It is known for its high standards in teaching and research, as well as the eminent scholars that it attracts to its faculty.
History
University of Delhi was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly of British Indian Government.[3] University was earlier decided to be named as Prince Charles University. But then, Rai Kedarnath, the counsellor of then Chief Commissioner of Delhi and founder of Ramjas College, explained to the Education Minister that naming the university so might have catastrophic effects, as there was no guarantee of the university succeeding in the future, and failure would certainly antagonise the Prince and he suggested the name by which it is known today.[4]
In the beginning, only three colleges existed in Delhi at the time: St. Stephen's College founded in 1881, Hindu College founded in 1899 and Ramjas College founded in 1917, which were subsequently affiliated to it. The university thus had modest beginnings with only three colleges, two faculties i.e. Arts and Science and about 750 students.
Soon after, the seat of power was transferred from Calcutta to Delhi in British India in 1911; the Viceregal Lodge Estate became the residence of the Viceroy of India until 1933 when it was passed over to University of Delhi in October, 1933. Since then, office of vice-chancellor and other offices are housed in this building.[5]
When Sir Maurice Gwyer came to India to serve as Chief Justice of British India, he was nominated as Vice-Chancellor of University of Delhi. The numerous improvements were brought in University including the introduction of the postgraduate teaching courses and the establishment of laboratories were entirely due to the efforts of Sir Maurice.[6] Realising the importance of a distinguished faculty to act as role models, relentlessly Sir Maurice searched for talent all over the country and roped in men of eminence to the University, such as Prof. Daulat Singh Kothari in Physics, Prof. T.R. Sheshadri in Chemistry, Prof. Panchanan Maheshwari in Botany and Dr. M.L. Bhatia in Zoology. Sir Maurice Gwyer is also called the "maker of university". He served the post of vice-chancellor till 1950.[7]
The silver jubilee year of the university in 1947 coincided with India's independence, and the national flag was hoisted in the main building for the first time by VKRV Rao, the convocation ceremony for the year, however could not be held due to partition of India, thus a special ceremony was held in 1948, which was attended by Prime Minister of India- Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Mountbatten, Abul Kalam Azad, Zakir Hussain and S.S. Bhatnagar. Twenty-five years later the golden jubilee celebrations of 1973 were attended by then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Amrita Pritam and M S Subbulakshmi.[8]
Present form
The University has grown into one of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 77 colleges and 5 other recognised institutes spread all over the city, with 132,435 regular students which includes 114,494 undergraduates & 17,941 postgraduates. There are also 261,169 students in non-formal education programme, of which UG students make up 258,831 where as PG students are 2,338 in number. Five departments namely Chemistry, Geology, Zoology, Sociology and History have been awarded the status of the Centres of Advanced Studies. These Centres of Advanced Studies have carved a niche for themselves as centres of excellence in teaching and research in their respective areas. In addition, a good number of university departments are also receiving grants under the Special Assistance Programme of the UGC in recognition of their outstanding academic work.[9]
DU is one of the most sought after institution of higher education in India. It is also among the university with highest publication count in India.[10]
The annual honorary degree ceremony of the University have been conferred upon several distinguished people, which includes Amitabh Bachchan, former Chief Minister of Delhi - Sheila Dikshit, Cartoonist R. K. Laxman, Scientist CNR Rao[11] and former Prime Minister of United Kingdom - Gordon Brown.[12]
Campus
There are about 77 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread out all over the Delhi. There are two main campuses of the University: the North Campus & the South Campus.
North Campus
North Campus hosts the three founding colleges of the university which constituted the University of Delhi when it was founded. North campus proper now has nine colleges geographically centred on the Faculty of Arts, Science and Law which are Daulat Ram College,Hansraj College, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, SGTB Khalsa College. Ramjas College, St. Stephen's College and Shri Ram College of Commerce. The extended off campus also has colleges in Old Rajendra Nagar, Pitampura and Ashok Vihar areas of Delhi.[13] The campus also houses other centres and institutes of Delhi which includesCluster Innovation Centre, Delhi School of Economics, etc.[14]
South Campus
The University of Delhi started South Campus in 1973 as an effort to cope with the enormous expansion while continuing to maintain its high academic standards and to facilitate access for South Delhi residents. It moved to its present location on Benito Juarez Road, near Dhaula Kuan, in 1984. The Campus is spread across 69 acres of green, hilly terrain and its buildings blend attractively with the natural surroundings. The various Departments are located in the Faculty of Arts, Inter-disciplinary, Applied Sciences and the S.P. Jain Centre for Management Studies.
The East Campus is being developed with the University College of Medical Sciences as its nucleus, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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