Maulana Azad National Urdu University

At a Glance
Contributor : '''Dr. Mohd. Mubashir Ahmed, Assistant Director, MANUU'''

Introduction
Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) مولانا آزاد نیشنل اردو یونیورسٹی is a Central University established at National Level in 1998 by an act of Parliament to promote and develop the Urdu language and to impart vocational and technical education in Urdu medium through conventional and distance modes. The headquarters of the University is at an outstanding central location-Gachibowli, Hyderabad, sprawled over 200 acres. The students and staff of the University are drawn from throughout India. They are attracted by its commitment to excellence in quality Urdu education in all disciplines of knowledge.

Objectives of the University
1. to promote and develop the Urdu language

2. to impart education and training in vocational and technical subjects through the medium of Urdu

3. to provide wider access to people desirous of pursuing programmes of higher education and training in Urdu medium through Campus and Distance modes &

4. to provide focus on women education.

Campus Mode Education
The University’s campus education as on today boasts of seven Schools of Studies: namely, 1) School of Languages, Linguistics & Indology, 2) School of Commerce & Business Management, 3) School of Education & Training 4) School of Journalism & Mass Communication 5) School of Arts & Social Sciences 6) School of Sciences and 7) School of Computer Science & Information Technology. These seven Schools run 17 Departments, which in addition to offering masters programmes, provide research programmes at M. Phil. and Ph D level. These Schools have already churned out a considerable number of M. Phil. Scholars. The focus of all these Schools is to search new areas of knowledge and to advance knowledge through research and application.

The University has established three Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and three Polytechnic Colleges in Hyderabad Bangalore and Dharbanga respectively. For all the disciplines on offer in ITI and Polytechnic, Urdu is the medium of instruction, which fulfills one of the objectives of the University of imparting technical subjects in Urdu. Additionally, the University established three Teacher Training Colleges at Srinagar, Darbhanga and Bhopal respectively, where personal and intellectual growth of teachers is realized through varied teacher training programmes.

True to its mission of widening the wings of Urdu and instilling a passion for Urdu among the new generation, the University has also established model schools that provide quality school education.

The University established a UGC-Academic Staff College in January 2007 in its campus with the sanction of UGC. The College offers Orientation and Refresher and Professional Development Programmes, and is engaged in various other academic activities. The University has a full-fledged ‘Instructional Media Centre (IMC), in its campus. IMC is engaged in production of curriculum based audio and video programmes to cater to the needs of students pursuing various academic programmes of MANUU in its Distance Education stream. Documentary programmes meant for the public at large are delivered through the broadcast mode. For this purpose, the University has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti, so that MANUU programmes are broadcast on the DD Urdu channel on a regular basis. The University’s Educational Programmes on Doordarshan’s Urdu Channel have been telecasted daily since 1st January 2010. The University has also established its first campus outside Hyderabad at Lucknow city from the academic year 2009-2010. The Lucknow Campus offers Post Graduate Programmes (M.A.) in Urdu, Arabic, Persian and English.

Directorate of Distance Education
Directorate for Distance Education (DDE) which has initiated its distance education programmes from the year 1998 by offering B.A. in Urdu medium initially. All the courses of DDE were approved by the then Distance Education Council, New Delhi. The DDE has set up 09 Regional Centers (Delhi, Patna, Bangalore, Bhopal, Darbhanga, Srinagar, Kolkatta, Mumbai, Ranchi) and 05 Sub-Regional Centers (Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jammu, Nuh & Amravati) across the country so as to provide academic and administrative support to the students. The RCs and SRCs take care of student support services; management of Study Centres; and admission process. At present there are 161 Study Centres within the purview of these RCs/SRCs all over the country. Beside this, the University has signed MoUs with Doordarshan for imparting lessons to the students through audio visual media. Further, the DDE is endeavouring to achieve its goal of providing online admission facility; simple process of admission to facilitate the students and providing audio visual material to the students along with the Self Learning Material. Moreover, the distance education programmes are popular with a large number of students across the country and abroad. In coordination with the Consulate General of India, MANUU has started its Examination Centre at Jeddah (KSA) in 2006. The graduation, post-graduation and diploma certificates awarded by the University are at par with the certificates of other Central Universities. Day-by-day the strength of the students is growing and students on roll, as on date are 1,57,000. Thus, the DDE is striving hard to reach the unreached. According to a recent survey by the renowned weekly ‘Outlook’ the University’s distance education programmes are ranked at sixth place in the merit list of top 30 national level institutions in the country.

At present, Directorate of Distance Education is offering  17 programmes  through distance mode including 03 PG ( M.A. in  Urdu, History, English & Islamic Studies ), 04 UG ( B.A., B.Com., B.Sc. & B.Ed. ), 02 PG Diplomas ( PG Diploma in Museology, PG Diploma in Tourism Management ), 02 Diplomas ( Diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication, Diploma in Teach English ) and 04 Certificate programmes ( Food & Nutrition, Proficiency in Urdu through English, Proficiency in Urdu through Hindi, Functional English for Urdu Speakers ).

Further details of the University can be accessed at www.manuu.ac.in