The first-ever female Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has been selected for the Padma Shri Prize. Akhtar receives the award from President Ram Nath Kovind on Republic Day in the literature and education category. Not just Jamia, but the first female vice chancellor of a central university in Delhi. Aktar was born in 1953.
She has more than decades of experience as an academic. Before joining Jamia, Akhtar was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir. Akhtar also headed the Education Administration Department of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) for 15 years.
She is best known for establishing the first state-level management institute in Allahabad and starting an international education administrator training course for senior officials at NIEPA. She has also held positions at IGNOU. At the National Open University, she worked on creating courses for distance teaching teachers.
When he was selected for the award, Akhtar said: “I will accept this award not only for myself but also on behalf of my colleagues. Now that we have the award in our institute, it has increased our responsibilities and will motivate us to work harder. to work.” She added: “I appreciate everyone who has recognized me and my work and deemed me eligible for the award. Especially our president who entrusted me as the first female vice-chancellor of the central university. I believe I have lived up to expectations have fulfilled.”
She has worked on gender equality in higher education institutions. Akhtar had said in an interview with News18 Urdu at the time of her accession that her goal is to ensure that the number of women in her university reaches 50 percent. Women’s enrollment in colleges across India tends to be lower than men’s. She also said that her goal is to establish a medical university in Jamia.
Akhtar is a gold medalist of Aligarh Muslim University. She has a PhD in Education from Kurukshetra University and was a Commonwealth Fellow for University Administration Course at the University of Warwick and Nottingham. She also trained at the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP), UNESCO, Paris.
Jamia congratulated his VC and tweeted: “It is a matter of great pride for the @jmiu_official that Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar has been selected for the #PadmaShri Award for her outstanding services in the field of literature and education.”
This year, the president has approved the award of 128 Padma Awards, including two duo cases. The list includes four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. A total of 34 of the winners are women and the list also includes 10 individuals from the foreigners category, NRI, PIO, OCI and 13 posthumous
winners.
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