Kohima: Nagaland University, the only Central University in the state, is going to launch a new undergraduate program in Basic Sciences from the academic year 2025-26.
The University also plans to launch a Multidisciplinary Research Centre that will offer more programs in Basic Sciences.
These initiatives are in keeping with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recognizes that higher education plays an extremely important role in promoting human as well as societal well-being and in developing India as envisioned in its Constitution – a democratic, just, socially conscious, cultured, and humane nation upholding liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice for all.
Initially, this New Centre will offer 3-year/ 4-year undergraduate programmes in Botany, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology.
The University also plans to offer more programs in Basic Sciences in the coming years, including Integrated Postgraduate programmes in Botany, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology, Ph.D. Programmes in all sciences and social sciences with an emphasis on the topics of multidisciplinary research and Integrated PhD (PG + PhD) programmes in all sciences and social sciences with an emphasis on the topics of multidisciplinary research.
Prof. Jagadish K Patnaik, Vice Chancellor, Nagaland University, said, “We want to pursue and promote world-class research and training and push the frontiers of basic sciences, covering broad areas ranging from material to life sciences with topics of multidisciplinary nature. We are keen to remove rigid boundaries and facilitate new possibilities for learners. Further, the University will also offer creative combinations of disciplines of study that would enable ‘multiple entry and exit’ points and re-entry options.”
Prof. Jagadish K Patnaik added, “The ‘multiple entry and exit’ option will pave the way for seamless student mobility between or within degree-granting Higher Education Institutes through a formal system of credit recognition, credit accumulation, credit transfers, and credit redemption, through Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) mechanism.”
The Undergraduate/ Integrated Postgraduate programmes will start with an intake capacity of 50 students across all the disciplines (Botany, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology) during the academic year 2025-26.
Other key objectives of offering Basic Courses include facilitating the encashing of credits earned when the learner resumes his/her programmes of study and enabling credit accumulation and transfer along with the provision of evaluation and validation of non-formal and informal learning for the award of a degree and encourage lifelong learning.
For admission to Undergraduate/ Integrated Postgraduate programmes, a candidate must secure a first class (60 %) throughout academics up to class 12 or any other equivalent examination. A candidate must have a valid CUET (UG) scorecard in the relevant discipline before applying.
The undergraduate programme seeks to equip students with the capacities in fields across arts, humanities, languages, natural sciences, and social sciences; an ethic of social engagement besides soft skills such as complex problem solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, and communication skills, along with rigorous specialization in a chosen disciplinary or interdisciplinary major and minor(s).
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Students can opt for a change of major within the broad discipline (Natural and Physical Sciences, Mathematical, Statistics, and Computational Sciences, Library, Information and Media Sciences, Commerce and Management, and Humanities and Social Sciences) at the end of the first year.
