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AMU India looks to Dubai for infrastructure support

Infrastructure at India’s leading Muslim institution, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), is not in good shape and is in need of support, the university’s vice-chancellor Lt-Gen Zameeruddin Shah has said.

Speaking at the Sir Syed Day in Dubai on Friday, commemorating the 196^th anniversary of the university’s founder, Shah said AMU hostels house 15,000 students in a space meant for 6,000. “You can imagine the congestion. When I took over 18 months ago, I found the university’s heritage buildings crumbling,” Shah said, adding it is time for AMU students working in the Gulf to extend support to their alma mater.

Shah also said AMU has had close links with the Gulf countries which have weakened in recent times. “It will be my effort to re-establish the close bonds AMU has had with the region,” he said, adding that he has formed Vision 2020 for the university. “We intend that by 2020, when we will be completing our centenary, AMU will again be an intellectual powerhouse,” he said. According to him, decongesting hostels is a major challenge, which needs to be corrected immediately. Shah said a grant provided by India’s central government is being utilised to construct hostels for 1,000 boys and 1,500 girls.

The vice-chancellor said he wants to set up 100 smart classrooms in 100 departments in the university. He said the university’s syllabi has remained unchanged for a long time and a team has been constituted to re-examine the complete syllabi.

“We aim to complete this process in 6–8 months. By then we will have the syllabi which will meet the needs of the industry,” he said.

Turning AMU into a ‘Green University’ was another goal, he said, adding that he wants to expand foreign language teaching to include Turkish, German and Chinese.

The university is also starting a bridge course for Madrasa students to bring them into the mainstream education.

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