Genesis
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, established in the year 1976 as a residential university with the objectives of promoting interdisciplinary higher education and research with special emphasis on studies of Life Sciences, Environmental and Ecological Sciences, is exhibiting tremendous progress to emerge as one of the leading educational institutions of the nation. Presently, M.D. University is a teaching-cum-affiliating university with a formidable track record in the field of teaching, research, extension, cultural and sports activities. The University has been awarded ‘A+’ grade by NAAC and ranked 96th in NIRF 2023 by the Ministry of Education. The University received the Green Institutional Mentor Award from MHRD in 2020. MDU is the first among the public funded universities in Sawachatta Rankings 2018 in the nation.
Academic Landscape
The University has world class infrastructure and State of Art Laboratories and other facilities including well equipped TV studio to support the teaching-learning activities. The campus is spread over 622 acres with a built-up area of 3,75,000 sq. meters, with 18 teaching blocks and other independent buildings accommodating 41 University Teaching Departments encompassing around 250 smart classrooms with LAN and Wi-Fi facilities, more than 175 teaching/ research laboratories, Central Animal House and Aryabhata Central Instrumentation Laboratory. MDU Centre for Professional and Allied Studies (MDU-CPAS), Gurugram is a satellite Campus of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE), originally established as a correspondence cell in 1988, contributes significantly towards achieving the national objective of providing quality education to one and all by fulfilling its motto to reach the unreached by offering distance and online education programs.
The University is marching ahead with determined efforts to achieve academic excellence through qualified, experienced and hardworking faculty, congenial academic and administrative environment, transparent, dynamic, responsive and responsible administrative set-up, strategic academic and research linkages at national and international level, Wi-Fi Campus, state-of-the-art library services. In addition, a time-tested tradition of timely holding examinations and time-bound result declaration, pulsating campus life with an objective to provide ample career growth opportunities for students and harmonious relationship among all stakeholders are its essential hallmarks.
Academic Reforms
Effective curriculum delivery is attained through a well-planned and documented process. Academic Council, Board of Studies and other academic committees work in coordination to strengthen curricular, co-and extracurricular activities. Activities are planned in advance to accomplish the vision and mission of the University. The university offers more than 160 academic programs through the Departments/Centres/Institutes. Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in academic programs of the University offers greater academic flexibility to enhance employability skills of the students by integrating discipline-specific, interdisciplinary/ multidisciplinary electives in curricula to meet students’ interests and aspirations. Courses relevant to Gender Sensitivity, Professional Ethics, Human Values and Community Outreach are also integrated in relevant programs. Environmental issues and sustainability is an integral part of UG/PG programs. Value-added certificate programs inculcate research aptitude, soft skills, personality development, and life skills to keep students conversant with the current global scenario, while value-addition Programs like communication skills, foreign languages and training in music facilitate holistic development of students. Timely conduct of examinations and declaration of results in accordance with the pre-determined schedule is an integral part of the evaluation process. The University has introduced NEP 2020 based curriculum in UG and 5-year Integrated programs offered at its campus and the same will be implemented in affiliated colleges w.e.f. 2024-25 session.
University Knowledge Resources
The University library, named after the revered social reformer Swami Vivekananda, offers a highly conducive and enabling academic environment. It functions in its best mode as an effective knowledge treasury for students and teachers in the contemporary information era. Strategically located, the Vivekananda library with excellent state-of-the-art computer facilities and the latest infrastructure is housed in a magnificent 3-storeyed building with 1,10,000 sq. ft. carpet area and a seating capacity of 2163 users, in addition to a separate air-conditioned reading hall with 80 seats for the researchers with another 14000 sq. ft. carpet area and 428 seating capacity in its five off-shoots.
It has an air-conditioned Internet Lab, 1Gbps bandwidth Internet connectivity, and a multimedia library. The application of RFID technology for self-check-out check-in with security gates has been implemented and the CCTV system for library security is in operation. The library resources comprising a rich collection of 3,99,407 books, 59,353 bound volumes of journals, 17,713 theses and dissertations and 296 Indian journals, 50 foreign journals, 30 magazines and 16 newspapers are regularly subscribed in the library. The digital collection of 68,174 e-Books published by renowned publishers of international repute; 11,173 e-journals, including Science Direct e-journals, Emerald e-journals and Indian Journals.com, and other e-journals provided by eShodh Sindhu; 4455 theses in digital form are available online for library users. International databases like Scopus, Web of Science, Indian Citation Index, CMIE Online Databases (Prowess, Industry Outlook, Economic Outlook, States of India, Commodities and CapEx), Manupatra, AIR Combo, DELNET IPC (Pharma Collection), and Economist Historical Archive Online Database are some of the emphasized available e-resources. The cloud-based writing assistant Grammarly Premium is subscribed to review spelling, grammar, style, tone and punctuation by the researchers. Turnitin and Ouriginal software are provided to ensure academic integrity and the prevention of plagiarism in research writing. Remote access and federated search are provided through the ‘MDU eLibrary’ and ‘MDU eLibrary’ app for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Digital Infrastructure
The University has best-in-class ICT infrastructure for education, research, and e- Governance. The University Computer Centre houses a data centre having 16 Blade Servers (Dual CPU – 16 to 24 core, with upto 256 GB RAM on each server) hosting more than 50 Virtual servers with more than 600 TB of SAN/unified storage. The servers run on Windows Server datacenter edition in high availability mode. A Unified Threat Management Solution has been implemented to secure the network from hackers, for filtering unnecessary traffic, streamlining traffic by specifying priorities and blocking unwanted sites on the 1G Internet connectivity provided by NKN using Forti Gate 1500D, supported by Forti Analyser 1000D. The Internal LAN having a backbone speed of 10G is governed by the best-in-class (for a university) core switch. Cisco unified communication infrastructure is extensively used for virtual meetings and online classes.
The need for digital initiatives has become imperative in view of new technological developments and society is becoming more tech-savvy. The University has a full-fledged Digital Learning Centre which reviews/curates and monitors the use of digital learning resources and suggests ways and initiatives to improve the proper utilization of these resources for effective teaching and learning. The university has created a Learning Management System (LMS) to facilitate students with open access to various LMS resources including the ones developed by the faculty members.
Research and Innovation
The University has state-of-the-art academic and research facilities and financial support system to promote advanced research. During the last five years, research projects/Schemes/programs worth more than Rs. 37 Crore were funded by government and non-government agencies. University Teaching Departments have received financial grants from various funding agencies under UGC-SAP, CAS, DST-FIST, DBT, ICSSR, etc. in the last five years. The University faculty constantly publishes ongoing research papers in quality journals (CARE list) duly notified on the UGC website. The University has h-index of 100 (SCOPUS) and 7189 papers in Scopus-indexed journals. The University also has a Next Generation Genome Sequencing research lab for sequencing pathogenic viruses including CORONA virus and this initiative has been recognized by WHO.
University provides more than 150 University Research Scholarships to 41 departments every year. In addition, fifteen University Research Scholarships are exclusively meant for SC category students. A well-defined “Research Promotion Policy” is in place to promote research culture among the faculty and research scholars. The University has “Code of Ethics for Academic Integrity and Plagiarism” to ensure quality research as well as to check malpractices and Plagiarism.
Various National and International level strategic tie-ups with academic and research organizations for joint academic and research programs with 17 MoUs to this effect, facilitate collaborative work in higher education, policy planning and social issues.
Research Institute, Centres and Chairs
Ch. Ranbir Singh Institute of Social and Economic Change established by the University as an independent advanced research centre carries out grassroots level research on the socio-economic issues with special reference to the state of Haryana and further provides critical inputs for formulating strategies and programmes to compliment and supplement the government initiatives. Faculty Development Centre (FDC) established under Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) contributes significantly towards the capacity building of teachers and accomplishment of Vision and Mission of the University. Women’s Studies Centre endeavors to strengthen individual and institutional efforts for women‘s empowerment. The Centre for Haryana Studies focuses on cultural, social, economic and political aspects of Haryana. Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Centre of Excellence for Rural Development works towards issues related to the rural populace.
The University has established 10 Chairs commemorating the names of social thinkers, reformers and eminent personalities. The objectives is to promote and conduct quality research on the life, work and philosophy of such social thinkers, reformers and educationists, in whose names research chairs have been instituted.