[Assam] Vibrant University, good business sense (The Sentinel, 20.10.2007)

[Buljit Buragohain]

          DATELINE DIBRUGARH/Wasbir Hussain
Vibrant University, good business sense
Dibrugarh University (DU) Vice Chancellor Dr Kulendu Pathak gave me a pleasant surprise during a conversation over dinner last fortnight. “We have an accumulated surplus of around Rs 8 crore as of now,” he told me when I asked him about his University’s fiscal situation. First of all, I asked him that question because his counterpart at Gauhati University (GU) had put in his resignation a few days back, apparently fed up with the perennial cash crunch that has hit the Varsity’s growth. Dr Pathak didn’t elaborate, but the University’s Registrar Dr Kandarpa Deka said that fiscal management initiatives, including austerity measures and efforts at resource generation, are the primary reasons for the surplus that the VC was talking about.
I don’t know much about the DU’s internal matters, but I found the University vibrant, the location really scenic and lush, and the 500-acre campus neat and clean with well-paved roads. That itself is creditable, compared to the dilapidated environs of many institutions across Asom, GU included. I’m glad I accepted the invitation from the University’s Centre for Management Studies to participate in a panel discussion on the occasion of its annual extravaganza called Sanmilan. Well, before I talk a bit about the Management Studies Centre, I must say that the dinner venue was the nice little Guest House within the University campus. I’m saying this because the sight of the GU Guest House, as one drives by, is saddening.
The University started its Management Studies Centre on February 3, 2003 and is currently running three programmes: MBA, BBA and Postgraduate Diploma in Tourism Management. What is important, as the Vice Chancellor told me, was that all these courses are paid courses, and this has enabled the Management Studies Centre to be self supporting. If the students at the Centre are young and vivacious, the faculty is equally enthusiastic. Yes, the auditorium called Rangghar was fairly good, except for the poor acoustics. But, during events like these, organized by students and a group of young teachers, the sincerity of purpose and enthusiasm helps cover up minor shortcomings.
Universities, particularly in states like Asom where funds have been a problem, must try and generate their own resources. For that to happen, these institutions must think out of the box and come up with courses that are job oriented, interesting and unconventional. The Management Studies Centre is one such initiative. I’m glad that the Centre has roped in the expertise of people with imagination, initiative, resources and drive to be on its Board and steer it to success. People like industrialist Manoj Jalan or tea administrator Robin Borthakur have the experience and exposure behind them to do exactly this by being on the Centre’s Board.
Now, coming to the topic of deliberation at the panel discussion organised by the Centre on the occasion: ‘Unlocking the North-east’s potential: Challenges Ahead.’ One way to unlock the region’s potential, I would say unhesitatingly, is the initiative of the institutes of higher learning located in the eight states. We must come up with tailor-made courses that can provide employment avenues to our youths. Bringing out graduates and postgraduates is fine, but a state like Asom needs youths trained in tea factory management, tourism professionals, even mule and horse breeding (Manoj Jalan, who owns several horses, all thoroughbreds, told me mules are in great demand among the troopers in the frontier), professionals who can bring the self-help groups into some sort of an organised sector etc. It is futile waiting for an odd gas cracker to take shape. We need to cash in on our potential and move on. What we lack are workable location-specific projects that actually yield
 results. The Centre can come up with a list of such projects to start with. I quite liked what former State Chief Secretary H.N. Das said at the meet. He said India’s Look East Policy might succeed in acting as a bridge between the country and the neighbouring Asian Tigers, but the North-east could continue to remain the underbelly of this ‘bridge’ unless its infrastructure gets a massive boost and the region is readied to reap the benefits. The North-east must learn to ‘change and succeed under any conditions.’ Well, that’s the motto of the book ‘Our Iceberg Is Melting’ by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber that Himadri Barman and his team at the Centre for Management Studies had presented me. The story of the penguins can inspire all of us, and we in the North-east certainly need loads of that!
     
   
   (The Sentinel,20.10.2007)



       
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