New Delhi: The approval of the much awaited Government Medical College at the prestigious Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the recent convication ceremony has left the medical aspirants thrilled. The setting up of a medical college has been a long pending demand of the administration.
In a special interview with ETV Bharat, Vice Chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia, Najma Akhtar said that the hardwork of all these years has paid off and if everything goes well, the students at Jamia will soon be able to take admission in the medical college. Here are a few excerpts of the interview.
ETV Bharat (ETB): The medical college has been announced, what is the future planning?
Najma Akhtar (NA): After a lot of effort, the government has given us permission to set up a medical college. But many approvals have to be made for this. A complete budget is being prepared for the project. Rest, we will start the medical college under Public Private Partnership (PPP). There will be a medical college inside the campus while the hospital will be built outside the campus.
We have set aside 5 acres of Jamia land near Jasola, where we will build the hospital. As for the medical college, it will have 150 seats. It is expected that from the next session, students will also be able to take admission in this medical college.
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ETB: How do you rate the achievements of your tenure and Jamia as a whole
NA: There have been many achievements during my tenure. Approval has been received from the government for the medical college. We cannot call it a big success, but yes we can definitely say that maximum number of people will be benefited by the development. Besides, our university has jumped to the 3rd position from 12th in rankings, which in itself is an achievement.
ETB: Jamia is continuously doing well in NIRF ranking, what is the way forward?
NA: It was not an easy journey improving the rankings. We have retained the spot for the second time now. When I became the Vice-Chancellor, Jamia was ranked 12th in NIRF rankings. In the second year we stood 10th which improved to 6th in the 3rd year. In the fourth year, we have further improved to 3rd spot. Jamia is doing well consistently.
ETB: Manipur violence is a hot topic right now. Did the students contact you over the issue?
NA: We have not received any representation (by Manipur students) in this regard. If the students are troubled there, they will be kept here in the hostel. But a policy will have to be made for this by the Union Ministry of Education. If a student from Manipur enrolled elsewhere wants to take admission here, he/she can do so given there are vacant seats here. No Manipur student has approached us so far, so we cannot say anything further.
