J.J. School gets de-novo deemed university status

The Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Applied Arts in the city has received a de-novo deemed university status and will be known as Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Design. The National Education Policy 2020 will be implemented and it will become a global center of excellence. The state government has granted funds for the restoration of heritage buildings and redevelopment of the hostel building. The university will have five new departments and aims to become an institute of eminence. Future funding will come from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Design Foundation.

The three premier art institutes in the city - Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Applied Arts – have received a de-novo deemed university status and together, they will be known as Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Design.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 19, 2023:Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan interacts with students of Sir JJ School Of Arts during the art exhibition held at Sir JJ Schoolof Art, at CSMT, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, October 19, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

At an event organised on the J.J. School campus, union minister of education, Dharmendra Pradhan, handed over a notification published on October 19 in the Central government gazette to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

“J.J. School is not just an institute; it’s a laboratory of innovation,” Pradhan said.

The union minister further said that the National Education Policy 2020 would be implemented here and that it would become a global centre for excellence. He also said that he had appealed to the J.J. School management to make illustrations for new textbooks and also to roll out a course for those obtaining training under the Centre’s Vishwakarma Yojana.

The state government will now formally approve this notification in its cabinet meeting, and after that the university will begin functioning.

“The state has granted ₹26 crore for the restoration of three heritage buildings (for the three institutes) situated on a single campus, and ₹130 crore for redevelopment of the hostel building at Bandra. In future, the state will support this university at every level,” Chandrakant Patil, higher and technical education minister, said.

Rajeev Mishra, director, directorate of arts, said with this notification, J.J. Institute would also take its academic activity off campus and overseas. “Our goal is to make it an institute of eminence.”

Presently, these institutes are funded by the state government, but future funding for the newly established university will come from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Architecture, and Design Foundation, a company established under section 8 of the Indian Company Regulation, 2013. The state will hold 100% stake in the company.

The university will get five new departments - department of contemporary art practices, department of metropolitan architecture, department of typography and type design, department of communication and experience design, and department of art, architecture, and design education.

A de-novo deemed university is an institution devoted to innovations in teaching and research in unique and ‘emerging areas of knowledge’, so determined by eminent peers of the academic community in the disciplines concerned. In the next step, the university will get a Central university or institute of eminence status.