Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner

The establishment of the Maharaja Ganga Singh, University at Bikaner marks an important milestone in the evolution of tertiary education in Rajasthan, area-wise the largest state of the Republic of India. Tertiary education, which modern universities develop and deploy for the benefit of humanity, aims for universality, but at the same time, it is now being increasingly realized, that it must also prioritize the discovery of solutions for the territory in which it is located. The Maharaja Ganga Singh, University would strive, through teaching, research and extension, to achieve a better understanding of the problems of the region in which it is located, in a region vastly different from almost all other regions in India and abroad.The UOB has come into existence in a terrain exhibiting several ecological constants not found, on any comparable scale, in the rest of India or, even, in the rest of the world which contains several large deserts but not the type of life-vibrant arid lands as the Thar desert on whose northern-east periphery the U.O.B is located. After the assent of the Honorable Governor of Rajasthan, the University has been established under the Maharaja Ganga Singh, University, Act, 2003 which was notified in the Rajasthan Gazzette on June, 7, 2003.This statute terminated the territorial jurisdiction and also the affiliation of 69 colleges located in the districts of Churu, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner. As a result, 92444 students were enrolled and examined in various faculties by the University in 2004 for Bachelor’s, master’s degrees and some diploma courses. Still larger number of students were enrolled and examined in the year 2005. The Government of Rajasthan had allotted a piece of land admeasuring 1127.07 Bighas in the village Shrah Nathania situated about 2 kilometers from the outskirt of the city of Bikaner for the University on which construction is soon to start. Maharaja Ganga Singh, University, Bikaner wants to develop its campus in terms of academic input and infrastructural facilities as a nucleus and resource centre for development of its affiliated colleges as well as to develop its campus teaching through various teaching departments. The Vision Document of Maharaja Ganga Singh, University, Bikaner proposes to take up the following academic programmes: Post Graduate and Undergraduate teaching. Doctral and Post Doctral Researches. Organisation of Seminars and Symposia. Referesher courses for college teachers. Preparing teaching material based on latest researches and insights as contained in articles and papers appearing in national and international journals. Develop hi-tech laboratories, a strong central library with latest modern equipments related to modern technology of education. Plan to start job oriented courses such as development of communication skills, project management and development of entrepreneurship, MCA, information technology, foreign languages, etc. As per the Vision Document of the University in addition to the existing executive and academic bodies as provided in the Act, the University plans to have following other bodies: Planning and Monitoring Board equipped with modern management information system. A staff development board for training and retraining of teaching and non-teaching staff It will set up grievance redressal machinery in the form of University Tribunal to deal with grievances and internal disputes. A self-evaluation and institutional assessment cell will be created for the study of activities of the University to find out the effectiveness of various programmes undertaken by the University and to design and redesign the action plans on the basis of new experiments. A social justice cell will be set up to look into the cases of socially deprived segment of students and gender discrimination. The people of this geographically deficient region are all committed to bring up the University to the level of any developed university of the country.