The University of Hyderabad (UoH) is planing to focus on internationalisation of its brand to attract more global students as well as scholars.

“While our university is among the top ranked Central Universities in the country, I feel we still need to internationalise our brand tapping our inherent strengths,” BJ Rao, Vice-Chancellor, (UoH), told BusinessLine .

The Vice-Chancellor, who recently assumed charge, has a road map for the globalisation of his university. “We are identifying courses that can tickle the appetite of international students as well faculty,’’ he said.

For instance, the Department of Sanskrit is working on introducing a new course on Computational Analysis of Sanskrit Grammar. “What we need is an out-of-the-box thinking. There is a treasure of knowledge in Ayurvedic Chemistry, Vedic Mathematics and Astronomy which can be taught for Indian and foreign students,’’ he said.

Multi-disciplinary courses

New courses will also be aligned with the New Education Policy (NEP).

“These courses will be multi-disciplinary and are also need of the hour. There are many courses we can design by extracting content from various branches of our ancient texts such as Panini’s Ashtadhyaya and Arya Bhatta’s Aryabhattiyam,’’ Rao said.

The University is hoping to roll-out the new courses in a phased manner over next one to two years.

“There is no short-cut to to a good brand image. Only good teaching and research will ensure it,” the Vice-Chancellor said, adding that the research programmes in the university and publications by the faculty were on par with ‘global standards’.

For Rao, another priority is to give a face-lift to the university infrastructure. “Most of the hostels were built decades ago. There is a need for upgrade infrastructure,” Rao said.

On the faculty positions, Rao said there was a difference between the vacancies and sanctioned posts.

“Recruitment is possible only when posts are sanctioned by the authorities,” he said. As of now the university has about 5,000 students and 500 faculty members.