E-Paper
Appreciation of new ideas seen as foundation stone for organisational success, says PAU V-C
The university bagged the 192nd position for agricultural science in the ‘US News Best Global Universities’ rankings for the year 2020
After bagging the 192nd position for agricultural science in the ‘US News Best Global Universities’ rankings for the year 2020, the vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on Thursday said that hard work coupled with teamwork and appreciation of new ideas is seen as the foundation stone for organisational success.
Vice-chancellor Dr BS Dhillon during a webinar shared his experiences in shaping the university’s research, extension, teaching, and administration. It was attended by more than 200 vice-chancellors of different universities.
The session was organised by the DDG, education, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Dr Dhillon, in his talk titled, ‘Initiatives in Research, Teaching, Extension and Administration: The Struggle and Ground Covered since 2011, said, “Reprioritisation and keeping pace with emerging challenges through creating new programmes like food industry business incubation centers at Ludhiana and Bathinda, technology centre, school of climate change, organic farming, focus on diversification, fruit and potato breeding, etc have always been of critical importance in today’s challenging agricultural scenario.”
He also stressed the usefulness of strengthening research in priority areas and shifting research teams to appropriate ecologies, exemplifying through cotton teams in Bathinda, sugarcane in Kapurthala and citrus in Abohar.
For smooth administration, Dr Dhillon shared the importance of creating four positions of additional director of research (ADR) for planning and monitoring research across colleges/disciplines.
“Besides, having a monthly review meeting of research and extension, I believe in closely monitoring and revising strategies and face to face interaction between researchers and extension workers,” stressed Dr Dhillon.
He further dwelt on how his focus on exploring, identifying and exploiting resources led to obtaining of BT genetic stock from Delhi University for the development of BT cotton varieties besides hybrids, genetic stock carrying Tma12 gene from Tectaria macrodonta, Maize haploid inducer from CIMMYT, Mexico, etc. While discussing the need for strengthening inter-institutional linkages, Dr Dhillon explained how strong coordination between PAU and agriculture department led to the successful management of whitefly and a bumper cotton yield. On recruitments in the university, he said, “there has been a constant emphasis on merit and national integration,”
On the teaching front, Dr Dhillon emphasised on exchange programmes for students as well as teachers.
