Aug 8, 2025: Atal Dulloo, the Chief Secretary of J&K, presided over a high-level meeting on Thursday to assess the challenges facing various universities operating throughout the Union Territory, a significant step toward improving higher education in the territory. The meeting aimed at accelerating the resolution of pending matters hampering the academic and infrastructural growth of these institutions.
Shantmanu, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of the Higher Education Department, Principal Secretaries of the Finance, Public Works (R&B), and Agriculture Production Departments, Secretaries of Health and Rural Development, Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir, Concerned Deputy Commissioners, Managing Directors of JPDCL and KPDCL, and other Senior Officials attended the meeting. All of J&K's major academic and agricultural universities' vice chancellors also took part. During the deliberations, the Chief Secretary underscored the importance of timely intervention and seamless coordination between universities and line departments. He emphasized that institutions of higher learning deserve the utmost seriousness in addressing their issues, given their critical role in shaping the educational and innovation ecosystem of the UT.
He directed the Higher Education Department to document all innovative practices, including research projects, patents, start-ups and other unique academic initiatives, being undertaken across these institutions. He stated that such documentation would assist in the dissemination of knowledge and replication of successful models throughout the UT. The Chief Secretary also urged universities to design crash courses for department-wide capacity building of government employees in a significant push for human resource development. In addition, he directed the mapping of all vocational and skill development courses in order to assist in coordinating academic offerings with market and governance requirements. An overview of the most important issues affecting universities was provided by the ACS, Higher Education. He also talked about the issues that have already been fixed through coordination between departments. The Chief Secretary conducted a university-wide assessment and worked directly with each Vice Chancellor to comprehend institution-specific bottlenecks. These included problems with land transfers, the creation of academic and non-academic positions, the distribution of additional funds, the expansion of infrastructure, delays in ongoing construction projects, and other operational difficulties. Underscoring the necessity for immediate action, the Chief Secretary gave immediate instructions to the relevant departments for resolving these issues in a time-bound and mission-mode manner. The participating universities included University of Kashmir, University of Jammu, Cluster University Srinagar, Cluster University Jammu, Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Jammu, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Kashmir /Jammu.
The Chief Secretary concluded the meeting by reiterating the government’s commitment towards strengthening the higher education and research infrastructure in the UT. He directed all the stakeholders to ensure continuous engagement and monitoring to overcome any hurdle faced by these vital institutions.