Conferment of Degree on Dr. Navinchandra RamGoolam

The Jawaharlal Nehru University conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) on His Excellency Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Republic of Mauritius in a Special Convocation held on 25 October, 2005 at the auditorium of National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi.

The function began with an Academic Procession consisting of Chairpersons, Deans, former Vice-Chancellors and guests. The occasion was graced by a vast gathering of foreign dignitaries, Union Ministers, former Vice-Chancellors of the University and renowned academics. Shri Arjun Singh, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource and Development addressed the august gathering . The Rector, Professor Rajendra Prasad, presented the citation and the Vice-Chancellor Professor B.B. Bhattacharya conferred the honorary degree on the Prime Minister Dr. Ramgoolam, who also addressed the gathering.

His Excellency Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam was born on 14 July, 1947. His illustrious father Sir Seewosagar Ramgoolam was the first Prime Minister of Mauritius when independence was granted to it in 1968, who played a major role in Mauritius joining the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations. His Excellency, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam possesses impressive and diversified educational qualifications, such as, Medicine, Law, natural Science, Political Science and Economics. He had his education from 1960 to 1993 in different internationally reputed institutions, as Royal College, Curepipe; Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin; The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London; Inns of Court School of Law.

Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam became the President of Mauritius Party in June 1991. He was the Prime Minister of Republic of Mauritius from 27 December, 1995 to September, 2000 and recently again taken over the office of the Prime Minister in 2005.

Memoranda of Understanding between JNU and Australian Universities

In the last three years JNU has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with a number of Australian universities. Some of these are specific for instance, with the University of Sydney for focused cooperation in areas of Environmental Sciences and Social Sciences. Prof. B. B. Bhattacharya, Vice-Chancellor, signed the MoU with Prof. Gavin Brown, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney. There is also an MoU with the University of Queensland in the areas of bio-informatics, drug design and development and structural biology to facilitate high standard research facilities for researchers of both countries. There are general agreements with Australian National University for exchange of faculty and students in different disciplines and with the University of New South Wales for visiting academic staff and research fellows and also for students activities and cooperative research in different disciplines.

in the areas of bio-informatics, drug design and development and structural biology to facilitate high standard research facilities for researchers of both countries. There are general agreements with Australian National University for exchange of faculty and students in different disciplines and with the University of New South Wales for visiting academic staff and research fellows and also for students activities and cooperative research in different disciplines.

Jawaharlal Nehru University, the top Biotech Institute

Amongst all institutes and colleges, which are imparting education at the undergraduate and/or postgraduate level in the area of Biotech, Jawaharlal Nehru University emerges as the best top ranked institution in the country. It is followed by University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad at the second position, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai at the third position, IIT, New Delhi at the fourth and Anna University, Chennai at the fifth position.

JNU-UNSW Partnership

In June 2003, the JNU signed an Memorandum of Understanding with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) which is located in Sydney, Australia. This MoU allows for the exchange of Academic Staff, Research Fellows and Academic Material.

UNSW is Australia’s leading international university- and is one of the leading teaching and research universities in Australia- with the largest on-campus enrolment of international students and over 200 sister university partnerships around the world, JNU being one of two such partnerships in India(the other is with IIT Delhi).

UNSW is home to a number of internationally recognised research developments in the fields of Quantum Computing, Photovoltaics, HIV Aids Research, Interactive Cinema and Polymer Chemistry. This last area of expertise links UNSW to JNU: through the Sir Anthony Mason Fellowship of the UNSW, Dr. Srikanta “Sri” Bandyopadhyay of UNSW’s School of Materials Science & Engineering visited Prof Himadri Bohidar (SPS) for a period of four weeks. Prof. Bandyopadhyay, an international expert on Atomic Force Microscopy.