The first meeting of the 12-member management council of Dr Homi Bhabha State University (DHBSU) will be held "soon,” says publisher Maneck Davar who joined the board of the new cluster university on May 20 this year.
The committee will have to "find out where everything stands…We have to understand the finances, the extent of autonomy the University has,” he told Parsiana on June 7, 2021. The first cluster university in Maharashtra state, DHBSU was set up in 2019 with the objective of easing difficulties in management and administration, research and delays in timely exam results faced by state universities with an unwieldy number of colleges under them (see "Bhabha’s university,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 7, 2018). The cluster includes the Institute of Science, Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, Elphinstone College and the Secondary Training College as components.
Dr Homi Bhabha: inspired scientists
Maneck Davar: restoring glory
An ex-Elphinstonian, Davar is chairman and managing director of Spenta Multimedia as also chairman of the Services Export Promotion Council and an independent director of the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of the Ministry of Commerce. During this three-year term on the University, Davar stated, "We will have to see how we can get these colleges to their glory days… It is unfortunate these colleges have lost their pre-eminence… Sydenham especially has a lot of alumni in important positions in industry who will be willing to contribute if we can show them a clear road map… Ultimately the University will have to live up to the name of the man it was named after.” Homi Bhabha, after whom the University has been named, is considered the father of the country’s nuclear program and founder of the Atomic Energy Establishment now renamed after him.
The colleges under DHBSU "have a different prospectus, but a common belief,” notes vice chancellor Dr Swati Wavhal on the University’s website. The faculty, staff and infrastructure of the constituent colleges can be shared and utilized by all component colleges. Students are allowed to take classes or subjects from any of the colleges in order to complete the credits required for the academic year, irrespective of the college they have joined.
Besides Wavhal and Davar, other members on the management council include academicians from Bombay and Aurangabad, and nominees of the chancellor and vice chancellor.
F. J.