Ramjas College to introduce 4 new centres of excellence

New Delhi: Ramjas College of the Delhi University has announced that it will be opening four new centres of excellence from July this year in order to go beyond the regular curriculum.

The four new centres, that would have Ramjas College Principal Rajendra Prasad as their chairman, would be South Asia Centre, Centre for Public Policy and Governance, Centre for Media Convergence and Centre for Multicultural Studies.

The courses at these centres will be of a duration of three months and they will be open to both students as well as professionals.

Rajendra Prasad said that the centres will be highly critical and relevant to today's world and each of them would deal with issues that affect our daily lives directly. "Whether it is media ethics, politics of South-Asian countries or various scam happening in the government that we hear of everyday, these are important issues and require a closer look," he said.

He further added that the introduction of these centres and courses would help in broadening the perspectives of students and in enhancing the careers of professionals.

The aim of the South Asia Centre would be to coordinate and promote the study of South Asian cultures, religions, languages, history, economy, politics and contemporary challenges of development of the subcontinent.

The centres will also encourage student exchange programmes between South Asian countries apart from interaction with scholars through lectures, seminars and cultural activities related to the region.

At the Centre for Public Policy and Governance, the areas that will be taken up include research entrepreneurship, policy formulation, knowledge dissemination, capacity building and grass root initiatives.

The study of media in its various diverse forms will be taken up at the Centre for Media Convergence, providing a platform to students for discussing the relationship between journalism, media and socio-political governance issues.

Students will be encouraged to pursue projects on issues related to multiculturalism at the Centre for Multicultural Studies. This would help in creating awareness about different alternative visions of the society.

The modalities for the centres such as the strength of classrooms and the fee structure are still in the process of revision and the college is looking at various sources of funding.
Rajendra Prasad informed that apart from approaching the university for funding, they had also approached various government agencies such as University Grants Commission (UGC), Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Indian Council of Historical research (ICHR), Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) as well as several corporate houses.

"IF we are able to receive a substantial amount via funding, we might even consider running the courses for free," he Prasad said.