University of Delhi (DU) will celebrate its 100 years with celebrations starting on May 1, looking back at its journey beginning with three colleges and 750 students, to its current total of 90 colleges and over seven lakh students. The celebration year will also create a road map for the university to break into the club of the world’s top 200 universities, the university said on Thursday.
Not only does the university plan on reintroducing technical courses with a B.Tech. curriculum, it will also introduce new programmes in UG and PG courses for management and economics and offer certification and diploma in job-ready courses.
Announcing a plethora of initiatives, Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh said at the heart of the celebrations is the idea of honouring the unsung heroes of Delhi University, who have contributed immensely to the development of the country from the pre-independence era to the present times.
“A unique initiative, as a part of the celebrations, will be giving to the students of the university who were not able to complete their degree, a chance to be able to sit for examinations and obtain it during the centenary year,” Mr. Singh said.
The Vice-Chancellor also released the centenary logo and tagline of the university, which was decided on the basis of a competition, from which the design by Kratika Khinchi, a student of Gargi College, was selected.
New infrastructure developments planned by the university include two hostels with a capacity of 1,000 students each, a new building for the Faculty of Technology and Academic and Administrative blocks in the Institute of Eminence (IoE) building as well as restoration and renovation work of old buildings.
For its centenary celebrations, the university plans to release a commemorative stamp, commemorative coin and a Coffee Table Book. It also plans to organise sound and light shows, literature festivals, and seminars apart from outreach programmes, such as adopting a village, planting trees and doing other welfare activities.
