Panjab University is one of the oldest universities in India. The university campus is residential, spread over an area of 550 acres (2.2 km2) in sectors 14 and 25 of the city of Chandigarh. The main administrative and academic buildings are located in sector 14, beside a health centre, a sports complex, hostels and residential housing. The university has 58 teaching and research departments and 10 centres/chairs for teaching and research at the main campus located at Chandigarh. It has 172 affiliated colleges spread over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, Regional Centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, and Swami Sarvanand Giri Panjab University Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur.
History
Panjab University teaches and researches in science, engineering and technology, humanities, social sciences, performing arts and sports. It was established in 1882 at Lahore (now inPakistani Punjab).
[edit]Post 1947 relocation
After partition in 1947, the university had no campus of its own for nearly a decade. The administrative office was located at Solan, Himachal Pradesh and the teaching departments functioned from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Delhi and Amritsar. In 1956 the university was relocated at Chandigarh, on a red sandstone campus designed by Pierre Jeanneret under the guidance of the legendary Le Corbusier. Till the re-organisation of Punjab in 1966, the university had its regional centres at Rohtak, Shimla, Jalandhar and its affiliated colleges were located in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and U.T. of Chandigarh. With the re-organisation of Punjab, the university became an Inter-State Body Corporate catering to the newly organised states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and U.T. of Chandigarh.
[edit]Centre
[edit]National Centre for Human Genome Studies and Research
NCHGSR was established in 2002 under the sponsorship of UGC to promote molecular biology. The Centre teaches biotechnology, genomics, proteomics, and offers postgraduate and PhD research programs. The centre has an M.Sc program which selects the best students from the merit list prepared by other common entrance test (OCET) entrances conducted in the university.
Faculty includes Prof.Tapas Mukhopadhyay (prev. Assistant Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, USA), Dr.Sashi Choudhary (PhD NIMR), Dr.Ranbir Singh (Post-doc Lund University, Sweden), Dr. J.K. Roy (Cytogenetics Lab, BHU), Dr.Reena Das (Hematology, PGI), Dr.Archana Bhatnagar (Biochemistry, PU), Dr.Kawaljit Chopra (UIPS, PU), Dr.Prince Sharma (Microbiology, PU).
[edit]Library
The Central A.C. Joshi Library has 650,000 books and 150,000 periodicals, some of which are rare collections from the 19th century. The university library has been recognised as one of the six national centres for data-information-distribution in the UGC's INFLIBNET program. It has a reading hall which is open 24 hours. Book and journal collections are augmented byonline sources.
[edit]ICSSR
The Indian Council of Social Science Research has set-up its North-Western Regional Centre on the campus. The centre runs a library, a seminar complex and a guest house for visiting scholars under its study-grants programme.
[edit]Faculty of Law
The university has two departments for teaching law. Both departments have separate academic blocks .
- Department of Laws: Located in laws department building, it offers two courses:
- Degree of LL.B, a three year course, the eligibility for admission is graduation degree in any stream, with a minimum 45% marks.
- Degree in LL.M, a two year course, which is offered after completion of LL.B.
The department conducts a separate admission test, for both the courses, on the pattern of Union Public Service Commission.
The University Institute of Legal Studies was established as a separate department in 2004. The institute offers B.A. LL.B (Hons.) five years integrated course. The institute has one hundred and eighty seats.
Department of History
The teaching of History at Panjab University during its first three decades of existence (1882–1913) was in its colleges. The university at this time was merely an examining body with its entire library, the Vice Chancellor reported in 1903, occupying just two almirahs. Then in 1913 Ramsay Muir, the modern historian joined as a visiting lecturer to give instruction at the Panjab University to the advanced students from the colleges. In 1921 the first university professors were appointed as also a Dean University Instruction. In 1925 a much larger Honours school embracing the subjects of English, History, Philosophy and Economics was instituted but this could not take off due to the complexity involved in coordination between the different subjects. Then in 1932 a distinct Honours school in History was begun with Professor J F Bruce at its head. Other subjects, Economics, English, Philosophy and Political Science too set up their separate Honours school which came to be known as ‘departments’. Local historical archives were set up under the guidance of the department of History with Mr. H L O Garrett, the Keeper of Panjab Government Records being given the task of collecting and arranging the archives. The independence of India in 1947 also resulted in the partitioning of the Panjab University. The department of History reassembled after partition at Hoshiarpur. With the construction of the present campus at Chandigarh the department shifted to its present premises in 1956. Currently the Department of History offers M.A. and M. Phil courses and opportunities for doctoral research. The range of teaching and research includes Ancient, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Indian History. Given its geographical location most of the research concerns the study of the broad North-Western Region (including the present Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and Pakistan Punjab). In recent years the researches at the department of History have become more social science oriented. Farmers' suicides in India, the condition of women, caste empowerment have been examined from historical to contemporary times.
The Department has had an illustrious faculty and many areas of Indian History have been defined by the researches done by them. Professor B.N. Goswamy charted his own course in Indian art history and raised it to a new height. Professor Ravinder Kumar gave a new meaning to Modern Indian and Contemporary History. Professor Hari Ram Gupta pioneered nationalist historiography on the Sikhs. Professor J.S. Grewal produced seminal studies in Historiography, Urban History, Sikh History and the Punjab as did Professor Indu Banga. Professor Parshotam Mehra unraveled the threads of India’s connection with Central Asia. Professor Kamlesh Mohan is well known for her interventions in feminist and cultural history. Professors S S Bal, J S Grewal and Ravinder Kumar also occupied important administrative positions in Higher Education each leaving his own foot print onto the practice of history in India.
[edit]Department of Gandhian Studies
The University Business School (formerly, Department of Commerce and Business Management) imparts management education to develop managers, researchers and teachers. The Department of Commerce and Business Management was renamed University Business School (UBS) in 1995.
Courses are:
- MBA
- MBA (International Business)
- MBA (Human Resource)
- MBA (Biotechnology)
- MBA (Executive)
- M.Com. (E. Commerce)
- Ph.D.
Visit the official website of UBS for more information.
[edit]Department of Gandhian Studies
The Department of Gandhian Studies came into existence in 1965. Initially a one-year certificate course in Gandhian Philosophy was started. In 1972, the certificate course was converted into a postgraduate diploma course in Gandhian Philosophy. After getting assistance from the U.G.C., the department started a post-graduate diploma programme in Gandhian Studies through correspondence. In 1977-78, the department started offering a M.Phil. degree in Gandhian Studies.
The department has primarily concentrated on research into Gandhi's life, work and thought. This is reflected in a number of PhDs and publications produced by the department. The department organises seminars and lectures by persons of eminence and Gandhian scholars, which are open to the public.
The university grants commission has selected the Department for Special Assistance for teaching and research in Gandhian Studies. In 1984 the department started a two year postgraduate course for a M.A. in Gandhian and Peace Studies.
The department has a library on Gandhian Studies and National Freedom Movement. The Gandhi Bhawan attracts scholars as well as tourists from all over the world for its magnificent architectural structure, its library and auditorium.
[edit]Landmarks at Panjab University
[edit]Gandhi Bhawan
The Gandhi Bhawan is a major landmark of the city of Chandigarh. Designed by the architect Jeanneret, a cousin of Le Corbusier it is an auditorium hall that sits in the middle of a pond of water. A mural by the architect greets visitors at the entry. The words "Truth is God" are written at the entrance. Today it also houses an substantial collection of books on Gandhi.
[edit]The Student Center
The Student Center, a major landmark of the city of Chandigarh was inaugurated in 1975. During those turbulent times in the history of India even the inauguration of this building for the use of students became a battle ground for those students who were opposing the government of those times. It houses the office of the university students'council. Following the Punjabi spirit of eat and make merry there is a cafeteria with a scenic panoramic view on the top floor of the Center and a large number of eateries that are frequented by students as well as tourists visiting Chandigarh.
[edit]Museums
The Panjab University has four museums, and the Department of Indian theatre has its own theatre lab. The university has a botanical garden and a garden of medicinal plants on the campus.
[edit]The Museum of Fine Arts
The museum of Fine Arts houses the early works of almost all of the major artists of modern India. This marvellous collection was created through the initiative of the art historian B.N.Goswamy. Originally the building was supposed to house the rich collection of archaeological artefacts that had been discovered by the department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. Today the museum of AIHC&A is housed in a modern annexe adjacent to the Fine Arts Museum.
[edit]Faculty of Engineering and Technology
[edit]University Institute for Chemical Engineering and Technology
The Panjab University had one of the earliest schools teaching engineering in India. The department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, as it was called in the early days, came out of a demand to make the sciences of direct use to society. The department was disrupted during the partition of India when most of the faculty and students chose to come to India. For a few years it was housed in Delhi. Then in 1958, it shifted to its present premises in Chandigarh. Helping the department regain its feet was a collaboration with Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Professor R. E. Peck from IIT Chicago joined as the first Head. Over the years the department grew in stature and evolved into the University Institute for Chemical Engineering and Technology. In 1983, In 1983, an Energy Research Institute was added within the UICET building to promote R&D in the field of renewable energy.
2008, was the Golden Jubilee year of the Institute. As part of the celebrations, the institute hosted CHEMCON-2008, the 61st annual session of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, which also included a joint US-India Conference on Energy.
Course details and information on labs and faculty are available at Official page of UICET, Panjab University
[edit]University Institute of Engineering and Technology
UIET has been setup in 2002 with a vision to provide quality professional engineering education and research. Now it has grown up having more than 100 faculty members and 2100 students. Almost 100% placement record and strong R & D has made the UIET's presence visible on the national map. The Bharti group of industries has set up a Bharti Chair in Telecommunication and IT to boost research in Telecommunication. The institute is a member of the Campus Connect programme of Infosys Technologies Ltd., Bangalore. The programme supports faculty training in industry, project guidance to students, curricula inputs, industry perspective of teaching-learning and expert lecture inputs. UIET has MOUs and interactions with industry and academia like IBM, Sun Microsystem, and MTECH. Course details and information on labs and faculty is available at http://uiet.puchd.ac.in/
[edit]Student Council
The office of the Panjab University students' council is located in the student centre. The student centre is the hub of students' activities - academic, cultural, social and political – besides being a favourite eating and hanging out zone for students. The Students’ Council consists of the departmental representatives and other office bearers i.e. President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint-Secretary directly elected by the students from the various teaching departments on the campus. The Dean Student Welfare is ex-officio Chairman of the Council. The Dean Student Welfare is ex-officio Chairman of the Council.
The Students' Council organises youth festivals, both national and international, academic debates, literary and cultural events and educational tours, besides looking after the interests of the students in general.
Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni on Wednesday hit back at 
In the second phase Nek Chand created open courtyards, pathways decorated with sculptures, complete with the king’s and queen’s chambers. A large waterfall, a canal, an open air theatre, a miniature village was also included. These architectural spaces have become an interactive space, where plays, dance and music performances are held.