About Us

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) constituted under the Jawaharlal Nehru University Act 1966 (53 of 1966), dated 22.12.1966 came in to existence on 22.04.1969 (Notification no F.16-1/69-U.2, Dated 21.04.1969), inaugurated on 14 November 1969 by Shri V. V. Giri, the then President of India.

JNU campus is spread over 1000 acres of undulated terrain. JNU is the foremost university in India, and a world-renowned centre for teaching and research. JNU being an institute of eminence in India aspires to create an augmented and integrated ecosystem, with a unique combination of resources, innovative thinking, and careful planning catapulting it to the creation of a University that would be recognized in the league of world-class institutions. JNU’s overarching strategy is to create mechanisms that include the cycle of strategic planning and execution, concrete time-bound implementation, real-time project progress monitoring and robust review system as vehicle to propel the Jawaharlal Nehru University in leagues of other self-sufficient and self-sustained world-class teaching and research system.

The University was envisioned as an institution essentially for post-graduate teaching and research. Currently, the University has thirteen Schools. It also has nine Special Centres:

Out of the thirteen Schools, the School of International Studies, the School of Social Sciences and the School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies have different Centres, while other Schools are of a unitary nature and have no Centre. All these Schools/Centres promote interdisciplinary studies – a unique feature of JNU.

The University has completed about 60 years and has acclaimed the status of international repute for its unique modern techniques in terms of teaching and research. 

Unlike other universities, the JNU’s educational philosophy is reflected in its academic structure which is broad based and has interdisciplinary functioning within the Schools/Centres/Special Centres. Therefore, the basic academic units of the University are not single discipline departments but multidisciplinary Schools of Studies. A School has been visualized as a community of scholars from various disciplines which are linked with each other organically in terms of their subject-matter and methodology as well as in terms of problem areas. 

As the University is mainly involved in instructional and research programmes, it is not limited to classroom activities with fixed hours. Being a residential University with hostels and residences of teachers intermingled, the students’ instructional and research activities goes beyond classroom hours and normal office hours.

The emphasis of the University is to strengthen inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach in keeping the changing needs of society and recognition of fact that knowledge is indivisible.

ORGANISATION CHART

Vision:

A university stands for transformation. JNU exemplifies the positive aspects of human habitation and intervention. Built on the rugged barren terrain of the Aravali hill range, where the 1000 acre campus is housed, the university has turned into a lush green estate of envy, a landscape bursting into the colours of bougainvilleas and amaltas, mangoes and jamun (Indian blackberry), and is the home of peacocks and nilgais. JNU is a birdwatcher’s paradise, parts of it now hosting almost dense forests.

JNU campus is a microcosm of the Indian nation, drawing students from every nook and corner of the country and from every group and stratum of society. To make sure that this is so, annual admission tests are simultaneously held at centres in various parts of the country (and at one centre abroad in Kathmandu, Nepal) and special care is taken to draw students from the underprivileged castes and ethnic groups. International students form nearly 15% per cent of the annual intake and as of now come from approx. 30 - 35 countries across the continents.

Most of the faculty, staff, and students of the university reside on campus. Hostels for students are built close to faculty residences in order to facilitate close interaction and to encourage the feeling of belonging to a large academic family. The hostels and faculty houses are organized in four clusters, named after the four directions. Each of the hostels is named after a river belonging to the region.

Towering over all other buildings in the Academic Complex is the nine- storey University Library, the hub of student life on campus. The JNU Library is among the first batch of universities to be chosen as a beneficiary of the UGC- INFONET- INFLIBNET consortium of Electronic journals because of the excellent infrastructure facilities in place at JNU. The Archives on Contemporary History, located in the Library has in its holdings a very large collection of source material on the Left Movement in India.

The Human Resources Development Centre (formerly Academic Staff College), funded by the UGC and located in JNU, serves other universities in the country by organizing in-service refresher training for college teachers from different parts of India. Among the other facilities available in JNU are two sophisticated instrumentation centres – The Advanced Instrumentation Research Facility (AIRF) and the University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC) – which are engaged in various in-house R & D activities. The Language Lab Complex, one of the best of its kind in Asia is equipped with video and audio facilities including a studio, and is justly proud of its rich software library.

Student life on JNU Campus has its own colours and contours of uniqueness. The university is perceived as a training ground for intellectual politicians, and for a meaningful life in the Indian bureaucracy, as much as the beginning of a life in research and academics. Serious and sometimes high decibel disputes about the validity of paradigmatic premises or cultural subtexts of a particular scientific or economic thesis often spill over from the class and hostel rooms onto the middle of the campus roads, at times causing traffic bottlenecks. Happily, these have never caused a road accident. JNU is the only university in India where the annual Students Union elections are conducted entirely by students, Fierce poster and cartoon wars, verbal duels and competitive yet peaceful group meetings are a viewers’ delight during the elections, In fact student life is peppered by after dinner speeches and discussions on every pressing contemporary issue. JNU is also a place for late night snacks and an active cultural life, with clubs that encourage a wide range of activities from dramatics to mountaineering.

We can say proudly that Jawaharlal Nehru University is a unique university not just in India but the world with its diversity, its commitment to social justice and intellectual attainment.

Mission:
 

The mission of the University is social contribution through education and learning, using advanced research tools and methodologies at the highest levels of excellence matching international standards. Towards this mission, JNU will strive to:

o Synergize the potential of JNU faculties and their innovative ideas and efforts to achieve the highest degree of academic excellence.

o Keep the University at the forefront by initiating innovative, fundamental and inter/multi/trans-disciplinary courses that meet the needs of the society by contributing to new research evidences and also by preparing new generation of scientists to address the challenges faced by the society.