Jamia to have school of earth and planetary sciences

Jamia Millia Islamia will have a strong thrust on research, offer a choice-based credit system and set up a new School of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, Vice Chancellor Talat Ahmad said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at the campus, Ahmad said: "I want to see more teachers and students in a research mode, and bring it into the teaching."

Ahmad plans to make Jamia a national leader in environment and climate studies.

"I will encourage scholars and faculty to use their expertise to look into scientific problems the country has to deal with, like glacial melting or the Uttarakhand disaster."

He is also looking at a choice-based credit system within two years.

The process will start with post-graduate level courses and will enable inter discipline knowledge and research.

Ahmad aims to set up a medical college on land given to Jamia through a Supreme Court judgement.

"The hospital and medical college will fill an important need in an area of Delhi with no government hospital," he said.

A PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University here, Ahmad has done post-doctoral research in three foreign universities: Cambridge, Leicester and Nagoya.

Earlier, he was the vice chancellor of the University of Kashmir.