SMVDU Katra: Prof. Rajeev Garg joined as Professor in School of Architecture and Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra. Prof. Rajeev Garg is a Graduate of Lucknow University and Doctorate from IIT Roorkee. He has experience of more than two decades in the field of architectural academics and profession. Apart from having academic association with premier institutions like Aligarh Muslim University, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and Galgotias University Uttar Pradesh, Dr Garg has worked with leading national and international corporate such as TATA Consulting Engineers Limited and JACOBS Engineering. Dr. Garg has 2 Books, 1 Manual and more than 20 technical & research papers to his credit. Having a passion for teaching, he aspires to give new direction and dimension to academics and profession of architecture in India through his forthright approach.

It is pertinent to mention that the School was established in 2006 as the only school of architecture imparting degree level architectural education in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Amid limited teachers availability in Architecture; School was looking for a seasoned academician at the post of Professor from last few years and Dr. Garg’s exceling academic and professional profile is the best thing in the context for the School and University at large for future prospects. Vice Chancellor of the University Dr. Sanjeev Jain and Dean Faculty of Engineering Prof. V. Verma extended their best wishes to Prof. Garg for successful endeavors at SMVDU. Head, School of architecture along with faculty/staff members of the department also extended a warm welcome to the professor on his joining in the University.

SMVDU Katra: Paras Dubey, a M.Sc. Economics 3rd year student of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University won the Best Student Parliamentarian Award in the Global Energy Parliament, held from 9-10 December 2017 at Thiruvananthapuram. The award is the biggest student award of the event. The Parliament was organized by noted IVPT - Isa Viswa Prajnana Trust, which holds Consultative Status to the United Nations ECOSOC for its work in education and social service. It has its units in India, Australia, France, UK, USA, Germany, Spain and many other countries. People from 20 different countries participated in the Parliament and renowned personalities like Lokh Sabha Speaker, Chairman of ISRO, former Governor of Andaman and many more were speakers there.

The Global Energy Parliament is a unique venture for humanity to create a more sustainable, peaceful and happy future – all based on the science of energy. Experts in all fields participate as Members of Parliament or Ministers who are responsible for portfolios in their field of study and work. It passes resolutions which are submitted to governments around the world and international organizations like the United Nations. The Parliament provides training in the concept of energy, training in parliamentary procedures, a global forum to meet and discuss with like-minded people, memberships in the Global Energy Parliament, with opportunities to represent GEP in other forums like the United Nations and awards for Best Parliamentarian (Student & Adult), Best Submission, etc. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor SMVDU, congratulated Paras Dubey for bringing laurel to the University.

Research Scholars Ravi Parihar, Tanima Anand, Ayushi, and Akanksha Sharma attended One Week GIAN Course on 'Languages Endangerment and Allied Topics" organized by the Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh from 18th -24th December 2017.

During the GIAN Course, World renowned linguists Prof. Nicholas Ostler, Chair, Foundation for Endangered Languages, Prof. Panchanan Mohanty, Chair, Linguistic Society of India, and Padmashree Awardee Prof. Anvita Abbi, (Retd. JNU, New Delhi) delivered their talks on issues in data collection; the wonder of foreign languages; roots of endangerment; lingua franca; mother tongues; language succession; language endangerment and multilingualism; and how to collect lexicon and make multilingual dictionary. as reported by the Head of School.

It is pertinent to mention that the emphasis of this course was on the need of teaching mother tongue and saving indigenous Indian languages. All the Research Scholars have been working on the Documentation of Sarazi; Tense, Aspect and Mood of Dogri; Historical Hindi; and the Semantics of Pahari languages and also learned to work on PRAAT Software and how to make a dictionary. All the research scholars also pursuing theirs Ph.D under the supervision of famous linguistic, Head of School Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain congratulated Ravi Parihar, Tanima Anand, Ayushi, and Akanksha Sharma for attending the one week course.

SMVDU Katra: The International Case Study Conference (INCSC-2017) organised by School of Business was inaugurated at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on 11th December, 2017. The conference is organised to create an understanding and appreciation for the qualitative research and case based methodology in the learning and decision making. The Ho’nble Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sanjeev Jain was an inspiration behind this conference. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. Manoj Joshi, Director, Center of VUCA studies Lucknow and Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean Faculty of Management, SMVDU. Prof. Manoj Joshi congratulated the School of Business for taking such innovative steps. Prof. Mukhopadhyay said that School of Business is committed for the knowledge creation and dissemination. The Convener of the workshop Dr. Saurabh welcomed the guest and informed about the necessity of case based research as a decision making tool for the managers, administrators and the researchers. Dr. Sushil K. Mehta, Head, School of Business, congratulated the participants and wished them wholesome learning. He said that the participants shall have national and international exposure and would be benefitted with the workshop and technical sessions in the conference. Dr. Rashi Taggar, the organising secretary of the conference thanked all the participants. She informed that 45 cases and papers on qualitative research have been selected for the conference. Experts from countries like Japan, UAE would present their views in this 3-days conference.

The members of the advisory board of the conference included Prof. Ahinandan Jain, IIM Ahmedabad, India; Prof. Rudiger Kauf; Mann, University of Nicosia, Cyprus; Prof. Arundaditya Sahay, BIMTECH, India; Prof. Sanda Renko, University of Zagreb, Croatia; Prof. Jantima Banjongprasert, Silpakorn University Bankok, Thailand; Prof. Albert Wocke, the University of Pretoria’s, Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa. The conference is supported by J&K bank as an alliance partner. Other sponsors included AquaSure by A.K. Sons, Aroma restaurant, Pargal confectionery and snacks Jammu. Day 1 of conference was closed with a session of “Fun with Case Methods” by Prof. Manoj Joshi.

SMVDU Katra : ICICI Bank Ltd. a leading private bank conducted a Campus Placement Drive at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra on 20th December. A Campus Recruitment Panel comprising of Business Head Mr. Vivek Gupta, HR Ms. Mehak Mittal conducted the Campus Drive for MBA students of SMVDU. After passing through a rigorous campus selection process consisting of an Online Test, Group Discussion, Technical Interview and HR Interview, 06 students were declared selected for Final Employment by the ICICI Bank Campus Recruitment Panel.

Vice Chancellor Dr. Sanjeev Jain congratulated all ICICI Bank final selects and advised them to be sincere, hardworking and honest to their work after joining. He also asked the students to give their best in their job so that to contribute in the growth of the business of recruiting organization and the nation a whole.

Athletics team of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra is going to participate in All India Inter- University Athletics Championship at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Both men & women team are participating in this national level competition. The said championship is going to be organized from 12th – 17th December, 2017. Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sanjeev Jain gave his best wishes to the team. Total 12 members including 7 boys and 5 girls are representing SMVDU in this tournament. Dean of students, Dr. Yugal Khajuria, Incharge sports, Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Administrative officer, Mr. Vinod Sharma and sports coach , Mr. Sucha Singh were present during the ceremony.

SMVDU Katra: SMVDU Football team won “Mata Vaishno Devi Football Tournament” organized by 06 BN CRPF camp Dheerti, Reasi. Total 8 teams participated in this event and matches were played on round robin pattern. Every team played with all other participating teams. SMVDU team got 1st position in this tournament and remained undefeated throughout the tournament.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain honored the winners for their performance and also gave his best wishes for the upcoming events. Vice Chancellor also announced cash prize for all team players. Dean of Students Dr. Yugal Khajuria, Director Sports Shrine Board, Sh. Ashok Sharma, In-charge Sports, Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Administrative Officer, Mr. Vinod Sharma, Sports Coach of University Cp. Sucha Singh (Asian games medallist) were also present during the honouring ceremony.

SMVDU Katra: In continuation to its efforts to promote entrepreneurship and bring forward innovative ideas from remotest of the places, especially from Jammu and Kashmir, SMVDU-TBIC (Technology Business Incubation Center) launches the 4th call to seek innovative ideas through “innovation challenge 2017 Phase II”. The main purpose of the call is to motivate grass-root innovators from the State to come forward, irrespective of their background, and share their ideas. The ideas can be submitted online on their web-portal till January 31, 2018. SMVDU TBIC provides all sorts of help, from prototype building, to convert potential novel ideas as successful businesses. In the support to the efforts, SMVDU-TBIC is also working towards development of a basic interdisciplinary research facility called “Tinkering Lab” in the University. The Lab will be enriched with all basic equipments related to various fields, computational facilities as well as some advanced equipments like 3D printers, Multi-layer circuit printer, Fabrication facility etc. Additionally, members also have access to state-of-the-art research facilities at SMVDU for specialized requirements. The purpose of the lab would be providing students/members, irrespective of their designations, a 24x7 unsupervised access to the facility to develop preliminary ideas and test prototypes.

For securing such ideas and prototypes, SMVDU-TBIC is also working towards facilitation of such ideas and innovations to be patented. SMVDU has recently revised its IP policy and developed an IP management and Standing Committee (IPMSC). The committee will develop procedures to for execution of activities related to IP management like Patent filing as well as commercialization like Technology transfer etc. The expenditure related to promotion and realization of such activities is borne by SMVDU-TBIC. In 2016-2017 SMVDU has filed more than 10 patents and more than 5 are in pipeline to be patented with facilitation from IPMSC.

SMVDU-TBIC has been successful in helping convert some of the innovative ideas, from various locations and institutions from the country to be established as startups. 13 such ideas are now registered as companies with ministry of corporate affairs, Government of India. Amongst these, Govt. of India has recognized 6 of the ideas as startups and evaluation of others is in process. For the benefit of all, SMVDU-TBIC has kept its online application portal open 24x7 at its website www.smvdutbic.org. Techno-preneurs from all across the country are welcome to participate and for any enquiries can contact SMVDU-TBIC. The Incubator is working with Grant-in-aid jointly from NSTEDB, DST, MoST, Government of India and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. The incubator in addition to providing mentorship is also facilitating financial assistance to the incubatees. SMVDU-TBIC also has been designated by GoI as one of the incubators for providing recommendation letters to Startups to avail benefits under Startup India Initiative of Government of India.

SMVDU Katra: HDFC Bank Ltd., a leading private bank, conducted a campus placement drive at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra on 18 Dec. 2017. A Campus Recruitment Panel comprising of Cluster Head Mr. Sachin Mahajan, HR Mr. Sajad Ali and Mr. Anuj Mahajan Branch Manager Katra conducted the Campus Drive for MBA students of SMVDU. After passing through a rigorous campus selection process consisting of Online Test, Technical Interview and HR Interview, 06 students were declared selected for Final Employment and 06 students from MBA first year for Summer Training 2018 by the HDFC Campus Recruitment Panel. The selects for Summer Training have been offered with stipend and Pre-placement offers (PPOs).

Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, congratulated all final selects and advised them to be sincere, hardworking and honest to their work after joining. He also asked the students to give their best in their job so that to contribute in the growth of the business of recruiting organization and the nation a whole.

SMVDU Katra: Two-Day National Workshop on ‘Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature’ was organized by School of Languages and Literature at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. The Workshop was inaugurated on 8th December, 2017. Prof. Rajnish Mishra from JNU Delhi graced the occasion as the Chief Guest of the Inaugural Session. The Workshop had insightful conglomeration of thoughts by Prof. Anima Chakraverty, ELT expert and President Award winner for teaching method; Prof Veerendra Mishra from Bansathali Vidyapeth University and Dr. Garima Gupta from University of Jammu. Dr Garima Gupta chaired the valedictory session. The Resource Persons took their sessions on English Language Teaching; Indian Poetics, Austin’s Theory of Locution with respect to Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature. A written Quiz competition for the participants was conducted at the end of the sessions and cash prize of Rs 1000, Rs 700 and Rs 500 were awarded to the candidates. Ms Simran Preet Kaur and Dr Ranbir Kaur presented the report of the seminar and vote of thanks respectively.

SMVDU Katra: A Five day Workshop on ‘Productivity and Efficiency Analysis’ conducted by School of Economics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, was inaugurated on 18th December 2017 at Matrika Auditorium. Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean Faculty of Management was the Chief Guest of the inaugural program. The formal welcome to the gathering was given by Dr. Pabitra Kumar Jena, Head, in-charge, School of Economic. Dr. Kakali Majumdar, Principal coordinator of the Workshop also welcomed the guests and experts as well as participants and provided a briefing regarding the programme, focusing on the plan and need for this five day event. All the participants introduce themselves thereafter. Offering hearty greetings to the dignitaries and the participants, the chief guest, Prof. Mukhopadhyay explained the importance of the Workshop and its importance and implication in the area of applied Economics. He congratulated the organizing team of School of Economics for conducting the event and had words of encouragement to continue with such activities that will, besides providing a creative platform for exchange of ideas and innovative thinking, add value to the development of the University in general and the School of Economics in particular.

This Workshop is designed to impart knowledge on Productivity and Efficiency Analysis in the context of empirical research. The objective of this workshop is to cover important models and methods for productivity and Efficiency Analysis. The workshop also aims to train the participants to work with the related statistical software like DEAP, R and E views. The Workshop evoked great response with good number of academicians and scholars from different regions of India registering for participation. The resource persons invited for the workshop are some of the eminent personalities and experts in the field of Productivity and Efficiency Analysis and have an enviable background. The inaugural session concludes with vote of thanks by Dr. Kirtti Ranjan from School of Economics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. The session was coordinated by the scholars of School of Economics.

One Week Faculty Development Program (FDP) on “Research Methodology” organized by Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University from 4th to 8th December 2017 concluded on 8th December 2017 with valedictory. In all 18 sessions were delivered by twelve different resource persons. Twenty one participants benefited by the program. Prof. (Dr.) D. Mukhopadhyay, In-Charge Director HRDC awarded the certificates to resource persons and participants of the program. The veledictory concluded with a formal vote of thank by Dr. Deepak Jain, Course Coordinator of the FDP.

SMVDU Katra: Philosophy is the study of the nature of reality and existence, of what is possible to know, and of right and wrong behavior. The International World Philosophy Day was introduced in 2002 by UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) with the objective to renew the national, sub-regional, regional and international commitment to philosophy. Keeping in view the objective, the School of Philosophy & Culture, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organized the World Philosophy Day on 14th December, in which noted Philosophers from Jammu region like Prof. Baidyanath Labh from Dept. of Buddhist Study University of Jammu, Prof. Ram Bahadur Shukla and his students from Dept. of Sanskrit University of Jammu, Prof. Shiv Nirmohi, a noted scholar of culture from the region, Dr. P. P. Singh, professor of Philosophy from GCW Parade, Dr. Bhupendra Hira, a scholar of Buddhist Philosophy and a lot of students from Govt. Higher Secondary School Panthal, participated. Dr. Anil Tewari from School of Philosophy & Culture and the organizer of the event, welcomed the participants, Dr. V.K. Tripathi, Head of the School explained to the participants the message of UNESCO on the occasion. Mr. Sumanta Sarathi Sharma, Dr. Madhu Mangal Chaturvedi, Prof. Labh, Prof. Shukla, Prof. P.P. Singh and Prof. Nirmohi addressed the participants. Prof. Labh highlighted the need for the consistency between principles and praxis, as we often know what is good and virtuous but we fail to practice when it comes to our lives. Dr. Dinesh Singh Jamwal from GDC Akhnoor, Dr. Varun Sharma from GCW Gandhinagar, Mr. Sanjay Kumar from GCW Udhampur, Mr. Ritu Raj, Ms. Bilquees Jan from Punjabi University Patiala, and a number of faculty, staff, research scholars, students and members from the families participated in the celebration. The event was sponsored by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi.

Katra. A Two-Day National Workshop (08-09 Dec. 2017) was inaugurated at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature on 8th December 2017. More than hundred participants, including in-house students, research scholars and participants outside universities & colleges are participating in the event. Distinguished Prof. Rajnish Mishra, JNU New Delhi graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, besides English Language Teaching (ELT) Expert and President Award Winner for Teaching Methods Prof. Anima Chakraverty and Prof. Veerendra Mishra, Banasthali Vidyapeeth University and Dr. Garima Gupta, University of Jammu are the Expert Resource Persons. The event started with a lamp-lighting ceremony and Saraswati Vandana. Prof. Varun K. Tripathi, Dean of the School laid emphasis on organizing such events in future too. Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi, Head of the School, welcomed the guests and participants and wished all two days of interesting and beneficial program. A Vote of thanks was presented by the Convener and Organising Secretaries: Dr. Anurag Kumar, Dr. Ranbir Kaur and Ms. Simran Preet Kaur respectively.

SMVDU Katra: As a part of its flagship mission towards skill development of final year B.Tech. Students, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, is organizing a five days Workshop on Ultrasonic Testing Level-II, in collaboration with MSME, Technology Development Centre, Agra. Dean Faculty of Engineering, Prof. V. Verma motivated students to develop professional skills to fetch better career prospects and self placement. Dr. Balbir Singh, Head, Department of Mechanical engineering, coordinator for this workshop highlighted the importance of Non destructive testing in industries. This certification will help students to start consultancy work as well as to facilities them to work in quality control and maintenance wings of power plants and mechanical based industries. Mr Chetan Somani, UT Level –III certified, resource person of MSME Agra is imparting theoretical and practical session to students, faculty and staff members of School.