Prof. K.C. Upadhyaya, Director Admissions
interviewed by Bhoomika Meiling for JNU News

Bhoomika: Since when have you been a part of JNU?

Prof. Upadhyaya: I joined JNU as a faculty member in 1975. I was not a student of JNU. I completed M.Sc. from I.A.R.I. in 1966 and proceeded to Pennsylvania State University for Ph.D. On finishing Ph.D, I decide to come back. But there was no job in India. So I joined the CSIR Pool of Scientists and worked with AIIMS for a while. Around that time, I saw an advertisement for a post in SLS, JNU. Before that I had not even heard of JNU since I had been abroad all that while when JNU came up. I applied and got through and here I am!

Bhoomika: Which administrative posts have you held before taking over as Director, Admissions?

Prof. Upadhyaya: Since begining of my career in JNU, I have been associated with students' activities. I had been for 13 years, first in Kaveri then in Periyar. I have  also been a Proctor and Associate Dean of Students. I h've been the Dean of SLS, Director of the Genetic Engineering Unit (which has now developed into SCMM). Four Professors, in SLS, I along with Prof. Sipra Mukherjee, Prof. Sudhir Sopory, Prof. Asis Dutta wew instrumental ingetting major funding from DBT in the form of Centre for Plant Molecular Biology (CPMB). That continued till 1998, and subsequently DBT established an autonomous Institution name National Centre for Plant Genome Research (NCPGR) and the CPMB building became the "Interim Premises" of this Centre. I was Officer on Special Duty of the Centre for three years. In 2002 I joined Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda as the Vice Chancellor and stayed there for three years.

Bhoomika: You have been a part of JNU for a very long time. Have you noticed any change in the quality of the students joining JNU?

Prof Upadhyaya: I can’t comment on the overall situation but in SLS, there has been some degradation. SLS started the M.Sc programme in 1975. I still say that our first batch was the brightest batch. Every student of that batch has carved a niche for herself/himself. At the moment, we do get good students in M.Sc. But for Ph.D, we are competing with many other institutes. The pool of students is the same for all these institutes and every student in this pool is looking for the best deal. Hence, there is competition. But JNU still gets good research students. The inter-disciplinary nature of SLS adds to the appeal. Earlier, students of Physics and Biology felt inhibited in joining us as they thought that a degree in a hybrid field would find lesser acceptance when the question of employment arises. However, the reverse has been true. Our students really go places. They do well in life. My own First Ph.D scholar S.E.Hasnain is the V.C. of Hyderabad Central University today. After passing out from JNU, he began his career with D.U. This was an unprecedented event as Delhi University is more traditional in its approach and it was most unlikely that they would employ our student who had all his degrees in hybrid fields. But they did take him because he was a very good scientist. So you see, JNU has proved its merit over the years.

Bhoomika: Has JNU’s policy of promoting students from educationally and economically backward areas witnessed any changes over the last four decades

Prof. Upadhyaya: JNU has always attracted students from all backgrounds. This is the place where a student can grow even if s/he has problem in understanding and speaking English. JNU ethos is such that it excludes no one. As far as admissions are concerned, we used to have deprivation points for students from both economically and educationally backward backgrounds earlier. The quota based on economic deprivation was however, discontinued in 1983 due to some practical problems. The deprivation points system for students from backward regions continues till date. Otherwise too, we try to take care of our students. For instance, recently we revised the syllabus of the Pre- Ph.D programme in SLS. You see some students who come for this course, belong to traditional academic streams and are not acquainted to the inter-disciplinary nature of research in JNU. It used to become very difficult for them to find supervisors. Now we have introduced one course in this programme which provides modules from all the traditions. This introduces all the students to all the traditions. Another thing I would like to mention here is that we have learnt from experience that the countryside of India is full of brilliant people. Since science today is not getting the crème-de-la-crème of the urban population (they prefer to go into technical and professional courses), it is better to promote the talent hidden in the rural hinterlands of our country.

In terms of policy we have had certain changes over the past couple of decades. Before 1982, we used to have entrance exams in JNU. The outstation candidates were given travel allowance for coming here and writing the exams. This was changed in 1982-83 and now we conduct exams all over India. Since all Universities have to follow 22.5% reservation for SC/ST and 2.5% for VH/PH, we also follow it. We have regional deprivation points besides that. In 1990’s, we also introduced points for OBCs- 10 marks for OBC females and 5 marks for OBC males.

Bhoomika: In case of admission of foreign students, do you think there could be a separate and more considerate fee structure for students from SAARC countries?

Prof. Upadhyaya: To be very honest, we are not getting the best foreign students. Therefore, if you compare our fees with some other institutes in India, you would find that we are quite liberal. Many students come with language problems. They neither know English nor any other Indian language….how does the teacher teach them? It becomes a difficult situation. But still we are open to students from all countries. The initial fees amount to $750. But after one semester, all of them apply for fee waiver. Since last year, we have been especially considerate towards the fee waiver of students from SAARC countries. We try to do as much is possible for them.

Bhoomika: Is there anything new on the platter for this year’s admission process?

Prof. Upadhyaya: Yes, we have introduced Direct Ph.D in School of Physical Sciences in Maths and Chemistry. In terms of the admission process, we have dropped the Dharwad examination centre and re-added Baroda.

Bhoomika: How do you maintain the balance between your academic and administrative duties?

Prof. Upadhyaya: If systematizes one’s work, multi-tasking is actually not tough. I give 2-3 hours to my work in Administrative Block. Then I go to the Centre. I generally stay there till 8 p.m. I love my work. At times, when there is additional work, this routine does get disturbed. But generally, I manage to balance both the things well. After handling M.S.U which has 35000 students and 1400 teachers, I can handle just about anything.

Bhoomika: What message would you like to give to the students of JNU?

Prof. Upadhyaya: The University comprises of three main elements- students, teachers and administration. While the first two are the indispensable prerequisites, the third category is entirely dedicated to provide support to them. Our students have always been very good in understanding the dynamics of this relationship. Earlier, there was no petty politics. But unfortunately, now a lot of it is happening. I want to let them know that in a good institution like JNU, there is always space for discussion and interaction. Solve things amicably. Do not step on anybody’s toes. Peaceful co-existence is possible. In JNU, we are free of many hierarchies. You must enjoy this environment and respect the fact that freedom of thought exists here.