Prof Lama recaps SU’s achievements of first 5 years

…OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES NAME OF PROF TANKA B SUBBA AS NEW VC
GANGTOK, 24 Sept: Prof Tanka Bahadur Subba has been appointed the new Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University. A respected anthropologist, Prof Subba is the head of the Department of Anthropology at North-Eastern Hill University [NEHU], Shillong, at present and was also a member of the first Academic Council of Sikkim University. He is expected to join SU in a few days.
Announcing the appointment of the second Vice-Chancellor of the university, the present incumbent, Prof Mahendra P Lama, also today declared the ISO 9001 certification bagged by Sikkim University recently.
Prof Lama mentioned that being a young university, it was a proud moment for Sikkim University to have received the ISO certification, highlighting that this was a recognition of the team work that the university has enjoyed in the five years it has been around.

Presenting the achievement highlights of the university in the 11th Five Year Plan [2007-2012], Prof Lama, while stressing that the university aims at building a national institution of excellence with a broad global orientation and strong local ethos and content, added that the University was trying to bring in the best practices of academic programmes, teaching methods and curriculum design both from within and outside India.
On the various academic achievements and academic and semi-academic programmes and student achievements of the university, Prof Lama informed the first set of under-graduates in B Ed and M Ed programmes came out in 2009, then the first set of Postgraduate (Masters) students graduated in 2010, first set of Undergraduate students from affiliated colleges graduated in June 2011 [2008-2011 batch], first set of M. Phil graduated in 2012 and the first batch of PhD will come out in 2016. He added that the total graduating students from SU between 2010 to 2012 is 3,045.
He added that the university has a transparent admission system with admission centres at 35 places in India and 5 in neighbouring countries and added that correspondence was underway for opening admission centres in China and other South East Asian countries.
Speaking on the Yangang campus land issue, the VC stated today that he has been told that when he leaves, the land will be provided to the university. “I have no regrets about it as I tried my best for this land,” he said.
He stressed that this acquisition has been the only stumbling block in the University project. At present, Sikkim University functions from 19 buildings taken on rent in and around Gangtok, paying out Rs. 2 crore per annum on rent and maintenances.
He informed that the University has already planned to build a ‘green Campus with strong representation of local architectural heritage and many amenities including its own biodiversity parks as instructed by the former President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil during her Convocation address at SU’.
“The University has already set a Board of Campus Development at Yangang [BCDY] with experts drawn from both within and outside Sikkim and representing various professional backgrounds and a consortium of architects, building designers, and land mapping experts from both within and outside country is being constituted to conduct the entire planning and construction activities at Yangang,” he added.
The VC also highlighted salient features of the 12th Plan proposals [2012-17] of the university.
A two-minute silence was also observed for the victims of the recent landslides in North Sikkim.
Also today, Prof Lama launched the Radio Frequency Identification [RFID] facility for the Teesta-Indus Library [Central Library] of Sikkim University. The Teesta-Indus Library of Sikkim University is one of the first libraries in the North-East to implement this facility. The actual initiation of the system started in the month of May 2012 and till date it has completed integration of about 10,000 books in the RFID system.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a next generation technology of Auto Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) technology which helps automate large variety of activities involving prime service oriented operations, like libraries. The Teesta-Indus Library has a collection of more than 29,000 books, subscribes to 75 academic journals and facilitates access to 7,500 online journals.