University of Mumbai

University of Mumbai
मुंबई विद्यापीठ

Seal of University of Mumbai
Motto Sanskrit: शीलवृतफला विद्या
Motto in English "The Fruit of Learning is Good Character and Righteous Conduct"
Established 18 July 1857
Type Public
Chancellor Governor of Maharashtra
Vice-Chancellor Rajan M. Welukar
Location Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Campus Urban
Affiliations UGC, NAAC, AIU
Website mu.ac.in

The University of Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई विद्यापीठ), is a state university located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was known as the University of Bombay until 1996 when the city of Bombay was renamed as Mumbai. The affiliated colleges of the university are spread throughout the city of Mumbai and four coastal districts in Maharashtra: Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. The university offers Bachelors', Masters' and Doctoral degrees apart from Diplomas and Certificates in many disciplines.

The university was founded by Dr. John Wilson in 1857 and is modelled on the universities of Britain. Mumbai university primarily imparts education through its affiliated colleges. St. Xavier's College was affiliated to the university in 1868, with Dr John Wilson as its first vice-chancellor. His wife, Margaret Bayne Wilson, founded 16 schools mainly for girls, the most famous among them being St. Columbia High School. Initially, the Elphinstone College building was used for Mumbai University.

Today, the university campuses serve as centres of administration and centres for higher education. In 1996, the name of the university was changed from University of Bombay to University of Mumbai, according to a Government Gazette. It is abbreviated as either UoM, standing for University of Mumbai or MU for Mumbai University. Most of the colleges in the city of Mumbai and the districts of Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg are affiliated to the University of Mumbai. In suburban Mumbai, the university campus is located at Kalina, Santacruz. The campus houses both academic and administrative departments of the university. Another campus located in Fort carries out administrative work only.

University of Mumbai has been given a ranking of five stars by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. In 2010, it was ranked between 451 and 500 among 500 universities of the world on the QS World University Rankings.[1] In 2009, it was ranked 432 on the same ranking list.[2] Several world-renowned institutes in Mumbai were affiliated to the university. Most of them are now autonomous institutes or deemed universities. These include St. Xavier's College, Narsee Monjee College, K.E.S Shroff College, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (formerly, Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute), Institute of Chemical Technology (formerly, University Department of Chemical Technology), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, a deemed university of the University of Mumbai, and the Tata Memorial Hospital.

Contents

Libraries

Jawaharlal Nehru Library

The central library, Jawaharlal Nehru Library (JNL) is located in the campus at Kalina. It houses 850,000 books, documents and scientific journals, theses, encyclopedias, along with over 30,000 microfilms and over 1,200 rare manuscripts, International Monetary Fund reports, census records and several hundreds of e-journals. The library catalogue is computerised. Most books in the library are on topics of basic sciences, social sciences and behavioural sciences.

The technology and applied research journals and books of the University of Mumbai are kept at other libraries including those at Institute of Chemical Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and Tata Memorial Hospital. Together the University of Mumbai collection of books and scientific journals includes over a million documents.

Rajabai Clock Tower

One of Mumbai's landmarks, the Rajabai Clock Tower is situated in the Mumbai University campus at Fort. It houses the University Library. Based on plans by British architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and completed in the 1870s, it was modelled on the Big Ben clock tower of London.[3] A businessman, Premchand Raichand contributed monetarily to the construction of the tower. It is named in memory of his mother Rajabai. It is 280 feet tall with five storeys. At a height of 30 feet from the ground, there are eight statues representing the Indian castes. The tower clock is reported to have played 16 tunes including Rule, Britannia.

Campuses

Kalina Campus

A large campus is situated in Kalina, Santacruz in suburban Mumbai. Much of its 230 acre area (930,000 m²) is reserved for the development of future disciplines. It has on-campus graduate training and research centers. Several departments offering courses in the streams of science, technology, commerce and humanities are located here. However, all colleges of engineering affiliated to the University of Mumbai are privately-owned. The university does not have an engineering department and Department of Medicine of its own.

An indicative list of centers and institutes located in the Kalina Campus:

Fort Campus

The original campus is at Fort, Mumbai, near the southern end of the city of Mumbai. It houses the administrative division of the university. It is built in the Gothic style of architecture. The Rajabai clock tower is located in the lawns of the campus. The convocation hall of the university has been accorded the status of a heritage structure.

The University of Bombay was established at the Fort Campus in 1857. In the same year, universities were established in the two Presidency towns of Calcutta and Madras. Fort Campus was one of the first educational institutions established by the British in India following Sir Charles Wood's Dispatch on Education in 1854.

Ratnagiri Campus

A minor campus running mostly extramural courses is located in the town of Ratnagiri.

Other institutes

Several departments of the University of Mumbai are located at places other than the Fort or Kalina campus. These include the Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology, formerly (UDCT), the Alkhesh Dinesh Mody Instituted for Financial and Management Studies[4] and the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) located in Mumbai, the central technical institute of Maharashtra State. The departments of Medicine and Medical Research are spread out across several prominent hospitals in Mumbai. Chief amongst these are the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay Hospital and G.S. Medical College of the University of Mumbai. St. Xavier's College was the first degree-granting college affiliated to the University. It was granted autonomy in 2009.

Additionally, about 90 privately run engineering colleges located in Mumbai, suburban Mumbai, Thane and Vashi are affiliated to the University of Mumbai.

Vice chancellors

Chancellor

As the University of Mumbai, is a state run university, the Governor of the state of Maharashtra is the ex-officio Chancellor of the university.

Alumni

Co-operation with other Universities

MoUs have been signed with Tianjin University, Tianjin University of Technology and Nankai University in China as well as Edith Cowan University in Australia.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "World Ranking of University of Mumbai". Topuniversities.com. 2009-11-12. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010. Retrieved 2011-01-23. 
  2. ^ http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/results/401-500 (The THES - QS world universities ranking). UoM (University of Mumbai) is ranked amongst the top 500 universities in the world. It is placed at the 432nd position. There are 3 other universities that share the position of 432 along with Mumbai University these are i)Universite des Sciences et Technologies - France; ii) University of Paris 5 - Rene Descartes - France; iii)Università degli Studi di Pavia - Italy. (The rankings have been published by the London=based 'The Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings' in partnership with QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd) THES is a newspaper based in London that reports specifically on issues related to higher education.
  3. ^ "Rajabai Tower Mumbai: Tourist Attractions In Mumbai". Mumbailocal.Net. http://www.mumbailocal.net/rajabai-tower-mumbai. 
  4. ^ http://www.mu.ac.in/alkesh/
  5. ^ "Homai gets Padma Vibhushan". The Times of India. Jan 25, 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/Homai-gets-Padma-Vibhushan/articleshow/7362865.cms. 
  6. ^ "Theatre is revelation (Interview)". The Hindu. Feb 24, 2008. http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/24/stories/2008022450160500.htm. 
  7. ^ World Economic Forum. Contributor Biography: Ajit Gulabchand
  8. ^ Bhaktivedanta Institute
  9. ^ Institute for Semantic Information Sciences and Technology
  10. ^ http://www.hindustantimes.com/HTEducation/Chunk-HT-UI-HTEducationSectionPage-OtherStories/Indian-students-should-consider-studying-in-China/SP-Article1-775497.aspx

External links