Panjab University, Chandigarh

Panjab University Gandhi Bhawan ChandigarhPanjab University today is identified with its beautiful campus in Chandigarh. It was extremely creditable for the post-independence national and state political leadership, civil servants, education administ cal leadership, civil servants, education administrators and academics alike that the refugee University’s goal to recover the glory it had enjoyed before Partition was achieved in a short time. After a decade-long precarious existence, Panjab University moved to its own campus in Chandigarh and professionally rose to match its architectural splendour. The Panjab University Oral History Project aims to conduct detailed interviews with individuals who have been associated with Early Panjab University (1947-1965) in any capacity. The recorded conversations will be transcribed, copy-edited, annotated and uploaded. Memoirs written by individuals, as also old photographs and documents, would also be published. In addition, we would also publish, or provide link to, other relevant material including photographs. A forum will be provided for conversations. Subsequently, relatively more recent periods would also be covered. Panjab University is located in Sector 14 and Sector 25 of Chandigarh, spreading across an area of almost 550 acres. The layout of two campuses of the University has been conceived to meet the academic, administrative, sports/recreational, residential and other requirements of a growingPanjab University University. To make it self-contained, infrastructural facilities like its own Shopping Centre, Health Centre, Bank, Post office, Swimming Pool, Gymnasium, Sports Grounds, Botanical Gardens, well maintained parks, Open Air Theatre, Guest Houses, Faculty House, Seminar Complexes, Alumni House, Community Centre and a school, have been provided. Besides these facilities, the University Campus has 8 hostels for boys, 10 hostels for girls, a Working Women Hostel and International Hostel and 2 sports hostels. A cluster of prominent buildings like the Gandhi Bhawan, the Fine Arts Museum, the University Library and the Student Centre form the hub of social interaction. The three-winged structure of the Gandhi Bhawan, considered the pride of the University, is its most artistic building. The Fine Arts Museum, with its series of small galleries arranged around a courtyard, each gallery having a hyperbolic paraboloid roof (umbrella shaped), is not only an architectural but a structural marvel as well. The University Library, another key building, in the Sector 14 Campus is an RCC framed structure with red sandstone veneers. The Student Centre, with its circular base and a ramp pulsating around its cylindrical body, is another landmark building. Teaching Departments/Centres The academic institutes on the campus and four Regional Centres are grouped under the Faculties of Arts, Science, Languages, Law, Education and Fine Arts, Business Management and Commerce, Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Dairying, Animal Husbandry and Agriculture. Most of the departments have their own specialized libraries, and the working period runs for at least 180 days in a year. The University School of Open Learning, a multi-disciplinary department, caters to more than 14000 distance learners and offers over 25 traditional and job oriented courses. Centres of Excellence Departmental Research Support (SAP/DRS), Centre for Advanced Study (CAS), Funds for Improvement of Science and Technology (FIST) and the Department of Special Assistance (DSA).