Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

The Maharaja andy University of Baroda
મહારાજા સયાજીરાવ વિશ્વવિદ્યાલય
Motto सत्यं शिवं सुन्दरम (Sanskrit)
Motto in English
 Love of beauty , Goodness and Intellectual Curiosity
Established mid 1881
Chancellor Shubhangini Raje Gaekwad
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Parimal Vyas
Location Vadodara, India
Campus Urban, ~1000 acres
Website Maharaja Sayajirao University

The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Gujarati: મહારાજા સયાજીરાવ વિશ્વવિદ્યાલય; MSU) is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally known as the Baroda College of Science (established 1881), it became a university in 1949 after the independence of the country. It was later renamed after its benefactor Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the former ruler of Baroda State belonging the royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas.

It is a teaching and residential university and the only university in Gujarat whose medium of instruction is English for all courses.

Has been consistently ranked one of the best universities of India,[1] University is primarily known for its 'Faculty Of Sciences' and 'Faculty Of Technology and Engineering' which are recognized as one of the renowned Science and Tech Departments in India and globally, having very distinguished and top rated advanced curricula of Bachelors in Science(Honors), analogous to tripos of University Of Cambridge.

It is the largest public digitalized Indian university which set a benchmark in coordination of Sophos and Aruba Networks by establishing paper-free documentation and digital learning environment even before the launch of Digital India programme. More than 35000 MAC addresses have been linked with university servers in all Wi-Fi enabled campuses including Main Premises, Hall of Residence, Engineering Campus, Medical Campus,etc covering an area of a thousand acres.[2]

History

Statue of Sayajirao Gaekwad III in the University campus.

The university has its origins in the Baroda College established in 1881 by Baroda State. The main building which houses the Faculty of Arts was designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm (1840–1915) in Indo-Saracenic architecture style, in a fusion of Indian and Byzantine arches and domes in brick and polychromed stone. The main dome on the convocation hall was modeled after the great dome of the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur.

Pratap Singh Gaekwad of Baroda (1908–1968) (the last Maharaja of the erstwhile Baroda State) founded the university in 1949 on the wishes of his grandfather, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III (1863–1939), and settled the "Sir Sayajirao Diamond Jubilee and Memorial Trust" which exists to date, catering to the education and other needs of the people of the former Baroda State.[3] It has its origins in the Baroda College of Science established in 1881.

The full-blown lotus growing out of the lake symbolizes the emergence of mind and its triumph over matter. The flame rising from the centre of the lotus is the flame of human knowledge, spreading light and learning for the coming generations. The motto inscribed below defines the purpose and existence of life, which is love of beauty, goodness and intellectual curiosity.

Song

After hearing the university songs of the western universities, renowned theater personality Prof. C. C. Mehta (from then College of Indian music, Dance & Dramatics of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda) proposed Smt. Hansa Mehta (the then vice chancellor) to write the Maharaja Sayajirao University’s own song, which she approved later on. The song was composed by Prof. C. C. Mehta and the lyrics are in Gujarati, but it is traditionally written in the Devanagari script, as per the customs of the Baroda State.

अमे वडोदराना विद्यापीठनां सपना सारवनारा

अमे ज्योत जलावी सृष्टि नवली सहसा सर्जनहारा

अमे गगनकुसुम कर धरनारा

अमे मगन मगन थई फरनारा

अगनबाथ अमे भरनारा

अमे दैन्यतिमिर ने हरनारा

श्री सयाजी विद्यापीठना ज्ञानदीपने धरनारा

सत्यं शिवं सुन्दरम् नो मंत्र अनंतर भणनारा

Administration

Chancellor

The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda is the only State University of Gujarat whose chancellor is not the governor of Gujarat. The chancellor is a member of the Royal family of Baroda.

Vice-Chancellor

The Vice-Chancellor of the university is appointed for three years.

Faculty of Science

University is primarily known for its renowned Faculty Of Sciences, having advanced Natural Science departments equipped with gigantic technological manifestations for ongoing researches in technical fields of Physics, Microbiology and Computer Applications.

Physics Programme

As a premier centre for Physics learning in India, Department established in 1949, offers U.G., P.G. and Ph.D. programme and is sponsored department of Department Of Science and Technology, Government of India under FIST programme. In M.Sc., students are offered Solid State Physics, Electronics and Communication, Nuclear Physics and Molecular Spectroscopy as specialization. The department is also equipped by two of the oldest and famous observatories: (i) Astronomical Observatory and (ii) Meteorological observatory.

Researchers are provided with advanced technologies including FTIR-4100 Spectrometer, Thermal Analyser (DSC), AFM, Workstations-4, Cluster Computing facility (Supercomputer),etc which help them in researching on Condensed Matter Physics, Material Science, Experimental Nuclear Physics, Spectroscopy, Theoretical Particle Physics and Astrophysics.[4]

It is one of the oldest Physics departments in India, which adopted advanced curricula based on Courses viz, Berkeley Physics Course, Feynman Lecture Series, etc under leadership of S.K. Shah and H.S. Desai, then physics professors. Still sustaining the advanced curricula, department has maximum Teaching Staff:Student ratio in India.[5]

Department of Condensed Matter Physics has been sponsored for researches in coordination with TIFR and BARC by DST-FIST as a major beneficiary. Department is indulged in a number of active researches with a record endowments.

University holds the accolade of having worldwide spread Departmental alumni including Physicist Sudhir Trivedi, Particle physicist Sandip Pakvasa( Professor at University Of Hawaii) and Nobel Laureate cum President, Royal Society, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.

Environmental Science Programme

Faculty of Science has two-year Masters and three-year honours programmes in environmental science. The number of seats are 40 at P.G. level. Students having Bachelor of Science degree in Environment or any other branch with Chemistry as a subject are eligible for test. In the last semester, students are given industrial training. Presentation of seminars and discussions are regular features.

For graduation B.Sc. Environmental Science Honors course students have to clear 6 semesters. There are theory and Practical components, programme is credit based. The visit to an industry or a Sanctuary, National Park is conducted in each semester. Students of Gujarat and other boards are eligible. Entrance test is conducted for 60 seats. The students undertake regular visits to industries, wildlife sanctuaries and other places for practical exposure. Six month industrial training helps them to learn the industrial working conditions, environment and safety related issues.

Department of Computer Applications

This department is formally established in 2013. The department offers two programmes. Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) and M.Sc. in Software Technologies.

BCA is a three-year under graduate programme that is focused on developing software professionals. In BCA students are trained for desktop applications, web applications as well as Mobile applications using Microsoft, Java and Open Source platforms. The programming languages taught include C, C++, JAVA, C#, VB.net, etc. The students are trained to use web technologies including HTML, JavaScript, XML, JSP, ASP.net, PHP, AJAX, etc. The BCA curriculum gives detailed coverage to Software Engineering, Computer networking, Database technologies, mathematical skills, distributed computing, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, Communication skills and so on.

Students undertake a part-time project of three months in the fifth semester and a full-time four-month project in their final semester. Students are involved in international projects with universities like the Penn State University (USA) and East Carolina University. Centennial college.
Link for the official website of Computer Applications Department: http://ca.msubaroda.ac.in/

Department of Biochemistry

The Dr. K.G. Naik Department of Biochemistry was established in 1955, under the Chemistry Department, and was headed by Dr. C.V. Ramakrishnan (father of 2009 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Dr. Venkatraman (Venky) Ramakrishnan). The department has a Center for Nutritional Studies. The department was awarded an Excellent status in 2006 by FIST a Government of India accreditation agency. It imparts master's degree courses in Biochemistry & Medical Biotechnology with a force of around 50 research students.

The Biochemistry Department offers courses in enzymology, genetics, molecular biology, neuroscience, plant biochemistry, endocrinology, clinical biochemistry among others. The department conducts research in areas including acterial cooperation, polyketide synthase clusture, antibiotic resistance, Apoptosis, phosphate solubilisation, nitrogen fixation, probiotics, heavy metal toxicity, diabetes, prostate cancer, female infertility, endophytes, magnetoliposomes, protein folding, and vitiligo.

The department was funded under the DST-FIST I program under which new equipment has been purchased and infrastructure facilities strengthened. The department has received support from UGC-DRS, UGC-DSA and COSIST programs.

The department has a strong base in Microbial technology and the main focus of the program is on Genetics, Molecular Biology, Industrial Microbiology, Immunology and other areas allied to Microbiology and Biotechnology. Basic training is given in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Developmental Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biochemical Engineering and some aspects of Biophysics, Biostatistics, Environmental Biology.

The areas of research in which the department is engaged are:

The Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre

The department started in 1964. It offers an M.Sc. Microbiology course of duration two years and Ph. D in Microbiology. It started M.Sc. Biotechnology course (duration two years) in 1986. It also offers Post M.Sc Diploma in Genetic Engineering, Bioprocess Development and Intellectual Property Rights (duration one year). The department is active in research work. The broad areas of research in which the department is engaged are

The department has research laboratories. The Genome research Center (GRC) established in 1999 is one of the research laboratories of the department. GRC has international research collaboration with:

The bioinformatics centre at the department was started in 1989 as a Distributed Information Sub Centre (Sub-DIC) under the Biotechnology Information System network (BTISnet) of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, government of India. The centre was upgraded to a Distributed Information Centre (DIC) in 2004.

The department is funded by DBT, DST-FIST, GSFC Science Foundation for development of laboratories and purchase of new equipments. The department has high-end equipment like Bioinformatics dedicated server, PCR, Nano-photometer, HPLC, GC, Electron microscope etc.

Faculty of Performing Arts

Faculty of Performing Arts building

Classical music

Maharaja Sayajirao Rao Gaekwad was a patron of Indian classical music. Ustad Moula Bux founded the Academy of Indian Music under the patronage of Sayajirao, on 26 February 1886. This academy later became the Music College and is now the Faculty of Performing Arts of MSU. Apart from Moula Bux, Sayajirao's Court boasted of artists like Ustad Hazrat Inayat Khan and legendary Agra Gharana Aftaab e Mousiqui (Sun of Music) Ustad Faiyyaz Khansaheb.

After educationist Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande's music curriculum was introduced at the college, Gayanacharya Pt. Madhusudan Joshi became the first recipient of a diploma in Music (1932) in the history of music education in India. He later on served the faculty as a guru for almost 42 years. Pt. Madhusudan Joshi (popularly known as Joshi master) was trained by Ustads like Ut. Faiyyaz Khan, Ut. Atta Hussain Khan of Agra gharana. Music director Late Padmabhushan Shrinivas Khale was his disciple and alumni of the Faculty of Performing Arts.

Dance

The MSU started the first dance programme in India in 1950.

In 1880 the Maharani Kanta Ben of Tanjore was married to Baroda's Maharaja Sayajirao III Gopalrao Gaekwad, a prince who established the Baroda College as one of his first public acts. It was later absorbed into the university that bears his name. Chimnabai I was knowledgeable in Bharatanatyam and carnatic music and brought a troupe with her: two dancers, two nattuvanars (leaders of Bharatanatyam concerts), and two teachers.[6] Others followed: Nattuvanar Appaswamy and his dancer wife Kantimati, who had studied with Kannusamy and Vadively, two members of the Tanjore Quartet. After Appaswamy's death in 1939, Kantimati and their son, Kubernath, left to teach in Lucknow and worked in film in South India until Maharaja Pratap Singhrao Gaekwad called the Tanjorkars family back to Baroda in 1949, to teach in the music department in the Palace Kalavan which was later absorbed into MSU.[7]

Faculty of Fine Arts

Main article: Faculty of Fine Arts

Faculty of Fine Arts at the university was founded in June 1950, today one of the most known art schools in India and gave rise to the "Baroda school" of Indian art. India Today has ranked it with All India Rank 1 in 2014[8]

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts Dome, designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm (1840–1915) in Indo-Saracenic style, modelled on Gol Gumbaz[9]

The Faculty of Arts building is known for its Gumbaz (The Dome), often rated as the second largest dome in India, after Gol Gumbaz.

Departments

  • Department of Archaeology and Ancient History
  • Department of Anthropology
  • Department of Arabic
  • Department of Canadian Studies
  • Department of Economics
  • Department of English (The oldest in Gujarat)
  • Department of French
  • Department of Geography
  • Department of German
  • Department of Gujarati
  • Department of Hindi
  • Department of History
  • Department of International Relation
  • Department of Library & Information Science
  • Department of Linguistics
  • Department of Marathi
  • Department of Persian
  • Department of Philosophy
  • Department of Political Science
  • Department of Pali
  • Department of Prakrit
  • Department of Russian
  • Department of Sanskrit
  • Department of Sindhi
  • Department of Sociology
  • Department of Traditional Sanskrit Studies
  • Department of Urdu

Department of English

The Department of English library has reading and conference facilities. It has a collection of around 1,200 titles of poetry, fiction and drama, literary criticism and theory, and works on individual authors and texts. The richest sections are on literary criticism and theory, and fiction. The library receives gifts from the British Council, the USIS, and individuals including members of the department teaching staff. The library has borrowed books from the collection of Smt. Hansa Mehta library. It is the same Department where Prof.VY.Kantak, Prof.Birji Patil, Dr.G N Devy , Prof. P.C.Kar and Dr.Rani Dharkar taught.

Department of Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy is the oldest in the Faculty of Arts which runs B.A., M.A., and Ph.D programmes and has given finest philosophers to the country.

Department of Economics

The Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts has given birth to some of the finest economists of the country.

Dr. I.G. Patel, former director of the London School of Economics and later the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, was the first head of the Department of Economics. Professors I.S. Gulati, V.N. Kothari, K.N. Reddy, S.R. Hashim and M.M. Dadi belonged to this department.

The department has strength in finance, sustainable development, gender studies, environmental economics. The department has been supported by schemes and grants from the Department of Special Assistance, Center for Planning and Development, and Assistance for Strengthening Infrastructure in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The department runs a professional postgraduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Finance. The department has a library which is accessed by the post-graduate students. It has a computer lab for training and instruction.

Faculty of Journalism and Communication

The only media faculty to be recognised all over Gujarat. Once accredited as third at all-India level in March 2001 for its courses offered.

Faculty of Education and Psychology

The Department of Psychology offers four areas of study: Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Industrial Psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

For on-the-job experience postgraduate students are provided placement in corporate and service sector organizations, community guidance centers, mental hospitals, general hospitals, schools, clinics and counseling centers.

The department has community outreach programs, such as in the university counseling centre: MARG for counseling of students. The department organizes workshops and seminars. The department has undertaken teaching as well as research and guidance. A guidance and counseling centre catering to the needs of student and well community is attached to the department. The department offers three part-time postgraduate diplomas: Human Resource Development, Clinical and Community Psychology, and Applied Hypnosis.

Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law has been a law institute in Gujarat since 1962. It offers courses like B.A.LL.B. (5 years) (Baroda School of Legal Studies), LLB (3 years), LLM (Business Law), LLM (Criminal Law), postgraduate Diploma in Taxation Practice, postgraduate Diploma in Labour Practice and a Doctor of philosophy programme.

The Faculty of Law has produced lawyers and judges of the Gujarat High Court.

The faculty has produced Judicial Officers and other members of the Bar, serving at the Supreme Court of India, Gujarat High Court, other High Courts and Lower Courts.

The faculty has run a postgraduate cyberlaw course of one-year duration and has produced cyberlaw consultants from MSU from fields like Insurance, Personnel, Computer Science, Company Secretaries, and Doctors.

Faculty of Family and Community Sciences

The faculty is a girls college but boys can get admission. There are seven majors in the Home Science faculty.

Students can do a BSc (home) degree as well as a postgraduate MSc In any of above majors they can do their graduation with General Home Science which cover all five majors.

Faculty of Management Studies

Popularly known as FMS Baroda, is inaugurated on July 16, 1984 as Sant Jagdish Institute of Management, The Faculty of Management by Shri B K Nehru (Governor of Gujarat) with a two-year full-time MBA course. Then it began a three-year MBA evening programs for working executives. The intake of students for MBA regular program is 40. It offers specialisation in Marketing, Finance, Human Resources and Information Systems. The MBA program has been rated in India's top 30 MBA program by Business India 2000 ranking. It has its own library and computer lab. It offers PhDs in management for research scholars. Dean of the faculty is Prof. (Dr.) G C Maheshwari. Before him, it was headed by Prof. Mayank Dholakiya]

Faculty of Social Work

The faculty began on 15 March 1949.

Courses offered are Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Human Resource Management (MHRM), postgraduate Diploma in IRPM; postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management, postgraduate Diploma in Health Management and Interventions; postgraduate Diploma in Social Development and Organisation Management; postgraduate Diploma in Criminology and Correctional Management and PhD in Social Work.

The student-to-faculty ratio is 1:8/10, a level mostly seen in the U.S., UK and other developed countries. The average class size is 40 students.

The faculty owes its origin to the first Vice-Chancellor of M.S. University, Smt. Hansa Mehta. The faculty made a modest beginning as the Baroda School of Social Work (in 1951, elevated to faculty status) in the White Pavilion building in Sayajibaug; they shortly moved to the seminar building of Baroda College and later to its present premises in 1960. The faculty had Dr. Perin Vakharia as the founder dean. Prof. Aruna Khasgiwala is the former Dean. The present Dean is Dr. MN Parmar.

Curricula

The faculty is one of the pioneering post-graduate institutions in social work education with a master's degree in Social Work (MSW) as its focal programme. From the early 1970s, a PhD programme in Social Work was instituted. In the mid-70s an evening post-graduate diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management (IRPM) was added. The faculty has undertaken in-service training programmes for field practitioners, government employees, etc. In 1999, a two-year self-financed master's degree programme in Human Resource Management was launched.

Faculty of Technology and Engineering

Kala Bhavan

The faculty is one of the engineering schools in the state of Gujarat. It is housed in Kala Bhavan, the building was supposed to be a temporary palace of the Maharaja of Baroda while his palace was being constructed. Hence is it located exactly opposite to the Laxmi Vilas Palace. The Maharaja donated the palace to open the school of engineering.

Founded by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda as the Kalabhavan Technical Institute in 1890 the Faculty of Technology and Engineering is popularly known as Techo.

The Polytechnic status continued until 1949 when the Kalabhavan was converted into the Faculty of Technology and Engineering (with the establishment of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda), following donations by the Gaekwads for the university and the new building of the institute.

These developments resulting in the creation of 15 departments, a workshop, a library and several buildings, due to financial support mainly from UGC and aided by UNDP, USAID and government agencies and due to the efforts by the institute, deans and teachers. Faculty laboratories and departments received aid of $1,050,000 for development from the United Nations Development Program. The aid was given to develop infrastructure facilities in the area of Fracture mechanics, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Turbojet propulsion and Microprocessor Applications. In 1986 postgraduate courses on Fracture Mechanics, Irrigation Water Management, Turbojet Propulsion and Microprocessor Applications were introduced.

Under the USAID program, faculty received a grant of Rs.40 million from the Water Resources Department and Narmada Department of the government of Gujarat for development of undergraduate and postgraduate program of Irrigation Water Management in March 1991.

Faculty of Medicine

Includes:

Faculty of Commerce

Faculty of Commerce is the largest in the university, with over 18,000 students.

The faculty has been an institute of education in business studies since 1949. When it was established in 1942, it was known as the Maharaja Pratapsinh College of Commerce and Economics. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes leading to B.Com., M.Com. and PhD degrees. The faculty offers BBA and three postgraduate diplomas in Business Management, Banking and Co-operation. It has five departments:

The faculty receives the services of colleagues from the following departments of other faculties:

Oriental Institute

The institute was established in Baroda on 1 September 1927. It operated from the Central Library before it was shifted in a separate building near the palace.[10] It is known for the seven volumes of critical edition of Ramayana that it published between 1951 and 1975, a part of the a 25-year project sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The text was later the reference source for Ramayan, the popular TV series by Ramanand Sagar that originally ran in 1987–88.

One of the oldest manuscript preserved at the institute is Ayodhya Mahatmya, written by Harishankar in 1656 AD, part of the collection of over 10,000 manuscripts of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, who first conceptualised the institute in 1893, inspired by the opening of the Oriental Research Institute Mysore in 1891, established by then Maharaja of Mysore Chamaraja Wodeyar, and a close friend.[11]

The Oriental Institute organises seminar and conferences for research in Oriental studies. The recent seminar on "Research in Indian Languages and Literature" was organised on 22 January 2014. The tweet-feed and Facebook posting can be identified with #oimsurill - regarding this seminar.

Shrimati Hansa Mehta Library

The library was established on 1 May 1950. At the time of MSU's establishment, a collection of 5,12,159 books belonging to two state libraries (Huzur Political Office and Secretariat Library) was handed over to the University Library.

There were several colleges in Baroda – Baroda College (for Arts), Science Institute, Commerce College, and Secondary Teacher's Training College, etc. These colleges had libraries of their own that continued to remain as Faculty Libraries and were administered independently. Thus the University Library System was established on 5 January 1950 and housed in the central block of Old Residency Office Building. Status of library holdings are as following

The Library is having SOUL Software made by INFLIBNET. Recently transformed the whole data from SOUL to SOUL 2.0 This among one of the biggest Library- Learning Resource Centre from Collection point of view. The collection at present is 8lakh documents(2015) The Library is ranked among top 20 Libraries across the India ranked by INFLIBNET in terms of the usage of e-resources(YTD)(2014)

The University Library is the heart of any Academic Research Institute, it has to play very vital role in Teaching and Learning. The Library is designated among 22 Document Delivery Centre, designated by INFLIBNET. At present University Librarian is Dr Mayank Trivedi Dr Trivedi has published 40+ articles in National and International Journals. During last five years(2010-2015), the role of University Library is tremendous in enhancing the Research output of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

Alumni

References

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Coordinates: 22°18′36″N 73°11′10″E / 22.3099°N 73.1860°E / 22.3099; 73.1860

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