Discussion on academic development and research ecosystem

Chandigarh, January 28, 2019: In an endeavour to understand the thrust areas of various departments of the University, Prof.Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor(VC), Panjab University(PU), Chandigarh, met the faculty of the Department of Economics to discuss the academic development and the research ecosystem in the Department. Prof.Upinder Sawhney, Chairperson, made a presentation about the department focusing on the Thrust areas of Research which are Economic Development And Structural Change, Public Policy And Governance Issues and Money, Banking and International Trade. She also apprised the Vice Chancellor about the courses being run by the Department and the future plans. The Dept. of Economics is the only department amongst the social sciences running the B.A./M.A. Hons. in Economics for the last many decades. The Hons.Programme under the CBCS has also been introduced only in this Dept. The VC was appreciative of the faculty achievements and motivated the faculty to carry out more research as Economics is one of the leading departments of Panjab University. He further suggested that the faculty should focus on collaborative research and funding from national and international organizations like Niti Aayog, Ministry of Finance, World Bank, IMF, etc. He promised that he will look into the infrastructure and manpower needs of the department in order to strengthen it further.