Punjab News/PTU wins much coveted Best Technical University award

Jalandhar, December 14, 2013: Punjab Technical University (PTU) has bagged the much coveted Best Technical University Award for the year 2013. The Award instituted by Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) and KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, encourages Technical Universities to enhance their performance and to serve the community as well as stakeholders by improving quality and maintaining standard of the programs offered.
The Award consists of a cash prize of Rs 1, 00,000, a plaque and a citation. It shall be presented to PTU during the 43rd Annual Convention of ISTE on December 19, 2013 at Kolhapur (Maharashtra).
 “Considering the recent achievements under the aegis of Vice Chancellor Dr. Rajneesh Arora, the ISTE-KIIT Award for ‘Best Technical University 2013’ has been awarded to PTU,” declared Dr. R Murugesan, President, ISTE.
Dr. S Basil Gnanappa, Executive Secretary, ISTE added, “From digitization of books; tie-ups with international universities; encouraging entrepreneurship in association with TiE; setting up the Institute of Excellence for making Punjab a global hub of higher education; restarting admissions twice a year – in July and January; to a mission to the Mt. Everest – PTU has done a lot lately to deserve this award!”
Reacting on this pleasant development Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, PTU, said, “We thank ISTE-KIIT for recognising our achievements.  This would not have been possible without the incessant support that I have received from all PTU officials and of course the efforts put in by our LCs. We shall continue to focus on the requirements of students.”
Dr. Arora added that unlike past, students now have choices when it comes to institutions and it is for the institutions to adapt to the changing times. “Communication industry offers customised packages; the same approach can be applied in education sector as well wherein we offer programs as per convenience of students, in the medium they wish it to be delivered and at a time when they are most receptive to it. That’s the direction education world over is headed in and its time that we too jump on to the bandwagon rather than being left out. At PTU we understand these dynamics well and have always endeavored to move in accordance with global trends,” informed Dr. Arora.  
In 2013, PTU had also bagged the prestigious CCI Technology Education Excellence Award in “Best University Promoting High quality Research at Master's and Doctoral Thesis Work” category.
Other achievements of PTU under able leadership of Dr. Arora:
•         Footprint of 2000 plus learning centres across India and in neighboring countries
•         Organizing faculty development programs (FDPs) and international conferences
•         Tie-ups with national as well as international universities and institutes
•         Reforming the examination system by eradicating long prevalent malpractices
•         Tie-ups with CII and PHD Chambers of Commerce Industry besides organizing training fests for greater industry-academia collaboration
•         Foreign language courses at Mohali campus
•         Local centers of research and excellence – e.g. Textile Research Institute, Ludhiana & Food Research Institute at Barnala
•         Sharing expertise with ITIs in the state
•         Addressing Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) conference at Chicago, USA
•         Technology Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) in collaboration with the World Bank (grant of Rs 50 crore for 5 colleges affiliated to PTU)
•         Promoting human values as a mandatory subject across all programs, content developed in association with Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad and IIT Delhi   
•         Promoting Punjabi language; developing translation software in association with IIIT, Hyderabad & IIT Delhi
•         Stellar placement record with top corporate houses and MNCs
•         Excellent financial health of the University - corpus has more than doubled