The University of Pune (formerly the University of Poona) is located in Pune, India. It was founded in 1949. Spread over a 400 acre (1.6 km²) campus, the university is home to 46 academic departments.
[edit] History
The University of Pune was established under the Poona University Act, passed by the Bombay legislature on February 10, 1948. In the same year, Dr. M.R. Jayakar assumed office as the first vice chancellor of the university. Shri B.G. Kher, Chief Minister and Education Minister of the government of Bombay, helped ensure the university received a large allocation of land for their campus. In early 1950, the university was allocated over 411 acres (1.7 km²).
The location of the University has historical significance. Some incidents of the Battle of Khadki took place where the present day University of Pune is located. The present day Main Building was built in 1864 and was known as the Governor's House.
[edit] Jurisdiction
Initially the university had a jurisdiction extending over 12 districts of western Maharashtra. However, with the establishment of Shivaji University in Kolhapur in 1964, the jurisdiction of the university was restricted to 5 districts, namely Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon. Out of these, two districts -- Dhule and Jalgaon -- are attached to the North Maharashtra University established in August 1990.
[edit] Affiliations
In 1949, there were only 18 colleges affiliated to the university (includes famed colleges such as the Pune Institute of Computer Technology and the Maharashtra Institute of Technology) with an enrollment of over 8000 students. Thereafter, the number of colleges increased, and in 2004, the university had 46 graduate departments, 269 affiliated colleges and 118 recognized research institutions, with an enrollment of 170,000 students for both the undergraduate and graduate courses in different faculties.[1]
[edit] Research
70 research institutions have been recognized by the University of Pune for research. These include institutions of national importance like the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), National Centre For Cell Science (NCCS), National Institute of Virology (NIV), Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), Documentation Research and Training Centre(DRTC) of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) among others.
Other research organisations which associated with the University of Pune are:
[edit] Departments
Main building, University of Pune, Pune
- Department of Geography (DOG) - The Department of Geography was first established in the University of Pune in 1950. Every year the department admits students for it M.A/MSc., M.Phil and Ph.D courses. The Department also offers students from interdisiplinary backgrounds, a course in Remote Sensing and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS and RS).
- Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB) - Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB) is an autonomous institute with an affiliation to the University of Pune. It was established with a view to promote research and development activities in bioinformatics and biotechnology, with a focus on creation of high quality research environment and human resources. IBB is situated on the campus of University of Pune, India.
- Department of Chemistry (DOC) - The Department of Chemistry is one of the earliest departments established by the University of Pune. It has received the "CAS" status (Centre for Advanced Studies in Chemistry).
- Department of Microbiology (DOM) - This department is an autonomous department of University and offers courses in Microbiology such as Immunology, Medical Microbiology, Industial Microbiology and Biochemistry.
- Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA) - A business school run by the university.
- Department of Biotechnology - In 1985, National Board of Biotechnology selected University of Pune as one of its five centres for imparting training in M.Sc. Biotechnology.
- Department of Environmental Science- The Department of Environmental Science was first established as an interdisciplinary school of the University of Pune in1978. As a first step, Environmental Science was introduced as an optional course in all the science departments. In view of its popularity, a one-year course, B.Sc. (Applied) was started in 1986, which was subsequently converted into a two-year full time M. Sc. course.
- Computer Science Department (PUCSD)
- Department of Physics (DoP) - Located on the scenic campus of the University of Pune, the Department of Physics started its activity in 1952 and there is no looking back since then. The department today is an active beehive of research being carried out in a wide variety of frontier areas as well as high quality post-graduate and doctoral programs. The research programs of the Department cover a number of areas like Materials Science, Solid State Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Cloud Physics, Thin/Thick Films, Diamond Coatings, Nuclear and Accelerator Physics, Lasers, Plasma Physics, Field Electron/Ion Microscopy, Biophysics etc. The department has flexibility in framing courses and conducting tests and examinations. It has been recognized that teaching in this department is among the best in the country. The faculty is also very active in extension programmes, in reaching out to students and the general public, through popular articles in the local press, radio, popular as well as technical books in Marathi and English, Refresher Courses and Teacher Training Programmes for high school and college teachers, demonstration lectures, summer programmes for highschool and undergraduate students, video lessons on undergraduate physics, etc. The department has received funds from DST- government of India under the FIST program. A large number of faculty members and students get benefit from this program.
- Atmospheric and Space Sciences
- Department of Electronic Science
- Centre for Modeling and Simulation (CMS)
Autonomous department runs by university.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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