The Hindu : New Delhi News : Promoting women's studies in varsities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Promoting women's studies in varsities

FOR AN issue that has gained considerable importance in the University Grants Commission (UGC) over the years, the coming weeks promise to give the Capital the chance to know a little more about the status of women's studies in universities across the country.

A four-day national conference on "Women's Studies in Indian Universities: Impact and Future Directions" will discuss the major points of the issue starting July 18 at Jamia Hamdard University in New Delhi.

A result of the points put forward by the National Policy of Education, 1986, the Centre has remained a major activity of the UGC since 1987.

From starting off with the small number of seven Women's Studies Centres spread across the country, there are now 34 such centres that have over the years helped evolve a positive role for the higher education system in empowerment of women.

Promoting women's studies as a critical input in the four dimensions of the University system -- teaching, research, training and extension - the centres have also taken up the job of spreading awareness on women and gender issues through documentation, library collections, publications, advocacy and policy analysis.

Aimed at charting out new directions for the teaching, research and extension activities of these centres in view of national and international developments and perspectives in women's studies and related areas, the conference will have about 100 experts, activists and academicians express their views during the event.

Some of the panellists who would be speaking at the event include UGC Chairman Arun Nigavekar, Armaity Desai, Vina Mazumdar and Poornima Advani, with some of the issues ranging from curriculum development, syllabi changes, teaching women's studies in mainstream disciplines, teaching women's studies as a special course, feminist pedagogy, teaching learning materials as well as women's studies in the Tenth Plan Guidelines.

Also discussed will be issues such as community action for women within and outside the university system.

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IT WAS a special request all right, but one that probably came a little too late. With the Olympic torch finally travelling to Delhi on Thursday and the presence of celebrities who will sprint across the city with it making the occasion special, the Delhi Administration is only keen to ensure that there are enough crowds to welcome and cheer the newsmakers.

And although the dismal state of affairs in university level sports never really draws the attention of authorities, for once the Delhi Administration seems to have remembered them.

Fearing a short attendance, officials apparently asked Delhi University to help them out by getting its athletes to join the race.

But with this being vacation time and peak admission season, the university is not quite sure if it would be able to help.

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DELHI UNIVERSITY has announced the schedule for the entrance examinations to be held for admission to various graduate and postgraduate courses. In the undergraduate category, the test for B.A (Honours) Music will be held on July 5-6. In the postgraduate segment, the test for M.A. Social Work will be held on June 20, M.A. English on July 1, M.A. Philosophy on July 3, M.A. Psychology on July 2 and M.A. Applied Psychology on July 1.

In the case of M.A. Linguistics, the test will be on July 9, in Arabic on August 19, in Economics on June 26, Geography June 28, Sociology July 5, Political Science July 8, History July 9 and Buddhist Studies and Japanese Studies on July 6 and July 9, respectively.

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FOR THOSE interested in pursuing short-term courses along with their graduation, this could be of interest. The Gemcraft Jewellery Institute (GJI) is offering standard certification courses in gemology.

Designed for fast skill development, the courses include a three- month Diamond Grading Course, a five-month Master Gemology Course and a two-month Gem Identification Course.

The course is open to students who have finished their Class XII or are doing their graduation. For more information, students can contact the Institute at L-75, Lajpat Nagar - II or ring up 51724700.

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

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