After emerging as a pioneering institution in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Dharamsala, is now aiming to become a globally connected university with focus on international collaborations, student mobility and research.
“Our next vision is to make the CUHP a globally connected university. We want to strengthen international collaborations, attract foreign students, promote student exchange programmes and develop the university into a research-driven institution while remaining rooted in India’s knowledge traditions,” Vice-Chancellor Prof Sat Prakash Bansal told The Tribune.
As part of this vision, the CUHP has signed academic collaborations with the UK’s Indian Knowledge Consortium and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), USA. The university currently offers three MBA programmes — regular, online and an international MBA in collaboration with the IUP.
Prof Bansal said that the permanent campus at Dehra would play a key role in the university’s internationalisation plans. The university proposes to establish an international hostel for overseas students and earmark land for reputed foreign universities to set up academic centres.
The university has also expanded its global outreach through joint publications and faculty engagement. Recently, it hosted a UK delegation under its collaboration with the Indian Knowledge Consortium, while Prof Bansal delivered lectures at three colleges in the UK on the Indian Knowledge System.
The CUHP has also strengthened its research ecosystem, filing nearly 60 patents over the past five years, compared to none earlier. Its H-index has risen from 22 to nearly 80, while faculty members have secured research projects worth Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore.
Among its major achievements is an Rs 11-crore project under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation in collaboration with the IIT-Ropar and the acquisition of advanced physics research equipment worth Rs 1.75 crore. Prof Bansal said that the university aimed to combine academic excellence, cutting-edge research and global partnerships while preserving India’s intellectual heritage.
