RONO HILLS, 8 Jan: Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha called for a seamless teamwork across departments and the administration for further growth of the university.
“As teachers and researchers, we need to get an edge over other people. We cannot lose our guard now. After achieving the 2nd ranking amongst the country’s universities, the whole world is watching us and we must do the right thing at the right time,” Prof Kushwaha said during an interactive session with all its faculty members, including its guest faculty at the university convention hall here on Friday.
He called upon the faculty members to never be casual in their profession and always maintain integrity and discipline.
Announcing that new laptops would be issued soon to each faculty member, Prof Kushwaha said that “as we learn to live with the new normal and get used to working in blended modes, technology and communication tools would become our ally.”
The VC said the university would announce a decision on the continuation of classes and reopening of hostels, if found to be judicious, in view of the pandemic situation.
Earlier, in his introductory remarks, Registrar Dr NT Rikam called upon the faculty “that in whatever capacity we are engaged, we have to exhibit all sincerity, dedication and commitment in our duties.”
Giving a context to the event, he said that the core idea was to know from the faculty members their views on taking the university forward.
Pro-VC Prof Amitava Mitra said that since this was the first offline, face-to-face programme in the last one year, it had a lot of significance.
“While we have continued the university’s tradition of conducting the convocation annually in a blended mode recently, we must also take measured steps towards opening up the university, so that students can benefit from classroom teaching and interaction,” he said.
During the interactive session chaired by the VC, senior deans, directors of institutes, heads of departments as well as young faculty members shared their views on the matter of reopening of the university in offline mode and the challenges faced due to the Covid-19 guidelines.
Elaborating the need for hostels to reopen in a calibrated manner, along with classes, various faculty members emphasized that health and adherence to Covid-19 SoPs was priority.
While reiterating that online classes do not have the same interactive learning as real-time classroom teaching, they opined that at least for practical based disciplines, hostels may be reopened.
Moderator of the event, Head of Department of Mass Communication, Moji Riba underlined that “while the Covid-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and affected us adversely, it has also highlighted the critical role that communication and interface had in dealing with moments of crisis.”
Speaking on the sidelines, coordinator of the event, Joint Registrar (Academic and Conference) Dr David Pertin said that the large-scale participation by the faculty members in the discussions was very encouraging and showed the commitment of the RGU’s stakeholders in its growth.
ABSCENCES, a film by Spanish filmmaker Laura Rio was screened as the opening act, which celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the face of the pandemic.
Talks by Prof Tomo Riba, Dr Kakoli Goswami, and musical performances by Dean of Students’ Welfare Prof Sumpam Tanjang and faculty members Dr Tage Rupa Sora and Ashok Barman were highlights of the event.
