In 2008, the Kashmir University (KU) announced to set up asatellite campus in Kupwara district to make higher education easily accessibleto students of the border district in north Kashmir. But a decade on, thecampus is yet to see the light of the day. An official said that more than 500kanals of land were acquired for construction of the campus. But, according tothe official, the construction on the satellite campus is going on for the pasteight years. Once completed the campus will be second such facility in northKashmir after the varsity administration made Delina satellite campusoperational in 2009. Last year, the administration had claimed that thephysical examination of the campus infrastructure and other facilities will becarried out by a team of officials and a report will be submitted to the higherauthorities to make it operational. However a year has passed but theadministration is yet to make any progress towards making the campusoperational. The university council has already approved two programs for thecampus which include Physics and Energy Studies. “Earlier it was decided tointroduce specialised program of nanotechnology but the decision was latershelved owing to inadequate infrastructure and facilities for such aspecialised program,” the KU official said. Besides taking the higher educationto the doorsteps in this district, making Kupwara campus operational would haveopened up job opportunities for educated unemployed youth. There are aroundfive degree colleges in Kupwara district with each college having enrolment ofover 1000 to 1500 students. “All these students don’t get accommodated in theavailable intake capacity at main campus of KU at Hazratbal and other satellitecampuses. Due to this reason most of the students are forced to move outsideJ&K state to pursue higher education,” said Sameer Ahmad, an under graduatestudent from Handwara. An official said the construction on the campus hit aroadblock owing to “some issues” between the executing agency and the varsity administration.
When will KU’s Kupwara campus become functional?
In 2008, the Kashmir University (KU) announced to set up asatellite campus in Kupwara district to make higher education easily accessibleto students of the border…