Islamic University of Science and Technology

Islamic University of Science & Technology

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Motto	"Nurturing a garden for dialogue."
Type	Public University
Established	2005 (2005)
Chancellor	Chief Minister of J&K State
Vice-Chancellor	Dr. A.R.Trag
Students	2500 +
Location	Awantipora, Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir , India
Campus	Rural
Colors	Martinique and White
Nickname	IUST
Affiliations	UGC AICTE AIU
Website	iustlive.com

The Islamic University of Science & Technology is a public university located in Awantipora, Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. The university has been set up as a centre for higher learning for the people of the Jammu and Kashmir State and its neighbouring regions. Islamic University of Science and Technology is recognised by the UGC and AICTE and is a member of AIU.

Location

The University is located in Awantipora, a small picturesque town situated on the main national highway (NH1A) in Kashmir approximately 30 km south of the capital city of Srinagar and adjacent to the shrine of Syed Hassan Mantaqi. This historically significant town was capital of Kashmir during the reign of Raja Awantivarman.

The Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora, Kashmir has been established through an Act No. XVIII of 2005 dated: 7 November 2005 passed by J&K State Legislature and notified by the State Government, through Jammu & Kashmir Government Gazette dated: 11-11-2005. While the university started functioning in November, 2005 the teaching programme was started in July 2006. The Chancellor of the University is the Chief Minister of J&K State and the executive authority of the University is its Executive Council with the Vice Chancellors of University of Jammu, University of Kashmir and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University as members.

File:Some buildings of The Islamic University of Science & Tech. in the backdrop of the tall mountains.jpg

The school of business studies with tall mountains in the background

Schools of study

The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the following schools of study:

School of Technology

The School of Technology is the largest school in the university with more than 2100 students on roll and in the coming year the roll shall be around 2400 students. The School of Technology (SoT) comprises more than 20 lecture theatres, 22 modern well established laboratories, workshops, fully networked computer laboratories with internet access of 100MBPS and online power backup for uninterrupted academic work. The SoT laboratories are manned by qualified technicians and skilled personnel. The School of Technology has also been provided funds under FIST by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for modernizing the Laboratories with latest equipment, software and also in providing quality electric power for the Science & Technology departments. At present the School has six departments out of which Department of Electrical Engineering is the last addition. The department will be offering B.Tech Degree in Electrical Engineering from academic session 2012-2013. Besides, the School has instituted another Masters programme in Information Technology under Department of Computer Sciences (MSc IT. There are six technical undergraduate and three post graduate courses offered under this school.

Undergraduate Courses:

• B. Tech Electronics and Communication Engineering
• B. Tech Electrical Engineering
• B. Tech Computer Science and Engineering
• B. Tech Civil Engineering
• B. Tech Mechanical Engineering
• B. Tech Food Technology

Postgraduate Courses:

• Masters in Computer Applications
• M.Sc. IT
• M. Sc. Food Technology

School of Business Studies

• Bachelors in Business Administration (B.B.A.)
• Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.)

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Currently, there are four departments and one centre under the School, each with a definite role within the broader mission of the School:

• M.A. Arabic Language and Literature
• M.A. Islamic Studies
• M.A. English Language and Literature
• M.A. Journalism & Mass Communication
• M.A. International Relations (Peace and Conflict Studies)

School of Sciences

• B. Sc Actuarial and Financial Mathematics.

Government Polytechnic Pulwama, IUST Campus

The University has started diploma courses from year 2012 in the fields of:

• Diploma in Civil Engineering
• Diploma in Electrical Engineering
• Diploma in Mechanical Engineering

University Centers

• International Centre for Spiritual Studies

• Rinchen Shah Center for West Himalayan Cultures

Rinchen Shah Center for West Himalayan Cultures (RSCWHC) has been conceived as a research center to help the State’s citizens better understand their immediate surroundings from an ethnographic, linguistic, anthropological and cultural perspective. The center defines “West Himalaya” as the regions known to us today as Kullu-Manali, Lahul-Spiti, Ladakh-Baltistan, Gilgit, Kashmir, Jammu and the hill tracks. RSCWHC will research, document and catalogue the human communities in this region and study how they bound together by geography and language and have overlapping ethnic and linguistic affiliations that create a continuum of frontiers cultures.

So far, the Center has published a book and several research articles on the area. The Center is working on three minor research projects titled: “Ladakh’s trade relations with neighbouring areas”, “Violence, Trauma and Quality of Life: An Anthropological Study in the Context of Kashmir” and in the aftermath of flash flood disaster in Ladakh region, a rapid appraisal of disaster impact assessment was also conducted. Apart from teaching assignment at CIR, the Center is offering two elective courses through General Education Curriculum (GEC) for the professional undergraduates students of the University.

The Center and Kargil Social and Cultural Organization have signed Memorandum of Understanding, whereby, the Rinchen Shah Centre shall provide expertise to the Kargil Social and Cultural Organization. Such expertise shall include academic, conceptual, logistical, and infrastructural assistance to the project of Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum, undertaken by the Kargil Social and Cultural Organisation with the aim of establishing the first ever museum of its kind in Ladakh of Central Asian Trade and Kargil arts and artifacts.

• Mantaqi Center for Science and Society

Activities: Work has begun on several projects at the Center including the creation of a biodiversity park at IUST. During the past year the Center also organized a pottery workshop on campus with the aim to revive this traditional element of our heritage and infuse new ideas in this old craft so that it is marketable and profitable in a contemporary setting. The event included pottery demonstrations by local potters, a lecture on pottery by Dr. Jyoti Singh and a marketing plan competition for students.

The Center has also started a new Reach Out and Mentor (ROAM) tutoring program for children of a neighboring Darul- Aloom. These children come from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds and have no opportunities for formal education. Under the ROAM program the children are taught math, science and English by a volunteer group of faculty and students. The Center has also received a donation of two computers for this program from the NGO Child Nurture and Relief Kashmir (CHINAR Kashmir) which will help in further broadening its scope.

The faculty and staff associated with the Center continued their professional development by participating in relevant workshops and conferences including Praxis Annual Commune on Participatory Development and a national conference on Recent Trends in Biosciences

Community initiatives

Besides, imparting formal education to the younger generation, the University realizes its role for community development especially given its rural setting. We take every opportunity possible to reach out to the local community and seek means and mechanisms to connect to it. In this direction, IUST with the help of many individuals/ organizations who are experts in their respective fields have made various efforts to reach out to the local community and raise awareness, make their grievances reach the authorities, apprise them of the latest technologies and trends to make their work easy and more attractive. So far the University has organised camps for seed distribution, health camps, workshop on new techniques in pottery etc. Besides identifying the need of modern education to underprivileged children, the university makes efforts at its own level to reach to them in the immediate vicinity of the campus. This is being done under Reach Out And Mentor (ROAM) tutoring program started by the Mantaqi Center for Science and Society. The center has drawn volunteers from students and faculty who teach students of a nearby seminary basic computer courses and other subjects that are part of formal system of education. The University has also started ‘Pesh Kadam’ a joint initiative of the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) and PANOS India in December 2009 which is successfully still going on. The capacity of IUST with its department of Journalism and PANOS’ experience in working on radio were brought together in this endeavor for a community based initiative using radio as a tool. The program is aimed to create a space for development of youth in the area, use radio as a tool or communication in voicing issues relevant to the community and to provide a technical training for the journalism students of IUST and youth in Awantipora. With a full-fledged studio and equipment, the program also acts as a part of a complete and rigorous technical training regime of the University as far as broadcast journalism is concerned. With the support from Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India, University has established Food Processing and Training Centre (FPTC) for training of educated and employed youth of the state to facilitate them to start their own processing units in rural areas. This will also help entrepreneurs to improve their technological skills. Special training programmes are identified for rural womenfolk..

Outreach

In order to supplement and complement the academic cooperative participation within the broad frame work of its vision and objectives and to promote and further the cause of IUST in developmental process of the state, it has established linkages with various Universities and other institutions of higher education across the globe. This among other things includes sharing of mutual facilities, faculty and curricular development programmes, consultancy, training, internship and placement programmes of the students in areas where such facilities may be required. This is of crucial importance in the initial developing stages of the University. Islamic University of Science and Technology signed a tripartite MOU on 20-10-2011 with Delhi University and University of Kashmir for mutual cooperation for the promotion of academic excellence. For the attainment of common objectives of mutual interests, promote and strengthen academic objectives IUST has signed MoU with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Japan (TUFS). Besides, facilitating exchange of faculty and students, scholarships to the IUST students under the MoU TUFS will be installing Video Conferencing equipment enabling the students to take lessons from international experts via video conferencing. The other Universities/ institutions with which we have developed effective linkages include SKUAST-K, University of Jammu, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Bharti Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, Shiv Nadar University, Noida, Chaudhary Charan Singh University Sirsa.

Awards

Islamic University of Science and Technology has been awarded 'Grade B' by NAAC.

External links

• Islamic University of Science & Technology