Bengaluru, 21 October 2021. In
its quest to be a research-intensive University, Bengaluru-based RVUniversity(RVU)
has launched a Ph.D. programme in its very first academic year. In the current admission
cycle, the Ph.D. programme will be offered in the School of Liberal Arts and
Sciences and the School of Economics and Finance.A practice-based Ph.D. will be
available in the next admission cycle in the School of Design.
In
the School of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, the focus areas for Ph.D. are Film Studies;
Organisational Psychology; Law; Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies;
Political Science (Indian Political Thought and Indian Politics); International
Relations; Modern Indian History (Socio-Cultural History of Modern India) and
Indology. In the School of Economics and Finance, applications are invited in
the fields of Economics; Marketing; Finance and Banking; OrganisationalBehaviour& Human
Resources; and Strategy.
Both full-time and
part-time Ph.D. options are available. The part-time option is meant to enable
candidates who are in employment to pursue doctoral studies. RVU has a team of faculty with many
years of experience in academia and practice, who will offer research
supervision. There will be two admission cycles in an academic year.
RVU has established
collaborations with several national and international Universities and
institutions, such as the University of Essex, the Scottish Centre of Tagore
Studies (University of Edinburgh), the Justice Initiative Foundation-
Bangalore, and many others. The University isnow in the process of firming up
collaborations with international universities for joint PhDprogrammes, which
would allow Ph.D. scholars to earn a doctoral degree from two Universities: RVU
and the partner University.
The call for applications for
admission to the doctoral programme is now live at https://rvu.edu.in/phd/ . Applications are invited from
candidates who have a Master’s degree, with a minimum aggregate of 55% marks.
The deadline for submission of applications is November 13, 2021. Eligible
candidates will be invited for the selection procedure, which includes a
written entrance test, followed by a viva voce examination. The website provides further details about
fee structure.
The seven research centres that
RVU has already established will also provide a vibrant environment for
doctoral scholars. The research centres include the Centre for Sustainable
Development, Centre for Community Outreach and Legal Empowerment; Centre for
Visual and Performing Arts; Centre for Languages; Centre for the Future of
Things; Centre for Elections and Democracy; and the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for
Contemporary Ethics.
Welcoming the launch of Doctoral
programme, Professor Y.S.R. Murthy, Vice Chancellor, RV University said, “There
are many teaching universities but RV University aspires to be different and
wishes to have a research focus right from inception. We want to be known for
academic and research excellence, and our students to get involved in research
right from the under graduate level. The international collaborations that we
have forged with many partners across different continents will take our Ph.D.
programme to a different level.”
Commenting on the institutional
infrastructure for research, Dr. Y.S.R. Murthy further said, “We have
designated an outstanding scholar, Dr. Lakshmi Arya Thathachar as the Associate
Dean, Research and Chairperson of the Office of Doctoral Studies. We have also
constituted a Research and Innovation Council. We have excellent faculty
members who have qualifications from some of the best institutions in India and
abroad, to drive our research agenda. We have formulated appropriate policies
and created an enabling environment for research to flourish.”
Dr. Lakshmi Arya Thathachar has
a Ph.D. in Modern Indian History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
She has been awarded several national and international fellowships, including
a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, a Charles Wallace
Fellowship, and a Fellowship of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
Reflecting on the launch of the
doctoral programme, Dr. Lakshmi Arya said, “We often find in higher education a
bifurcation between teaching and research. There are government- and
private-funded research centres, which research, and there are colleges, whose
primary focus is to teach. Research and teaching can, however, feed into each
other. In research-intensive Universities, faculty design courses on the basis
of their research, guide doctoral candidates, and publish findings. RV
University is committed to creating conditions that enable research, by
instituting best practices with respect to faculty research time,research
centres, unique Ph.D. pathways, and research projects that ask brave, new
questions.”
Dr. Lakshmi Arya Thathachar
went on to observe, “A University’s primary purpose is epistemic: It is the
pursuit of truth. Given how ideologically polarized current times are, there is
a need to nurture research that is objective and empirically rigorous. There is
also a need for developing theoretical frameworks that can explain empirical
evidence.”
In the academic year 2021-22, RVU
admitted its first cohort of Bachelor’s and Master’s students. The University
has now taken the next step towards realizing its vision of fostering and
encouraging research, by launching the Ph.D. programme. The National Education
Policy 2020 emphasises that outstanding research is a “corequisite for
outstanding education and development.” In keeping with this vision for higher
education, RVU aspires to be a research-intensive university.
About RV University
RV University is a private university
that was established under the RV University Act, 2019 passed by the Karnataka
legislature. The University is sponsored by the RashtreeyaSikshana Samithi
Trust (RSST), which has an eighty-year old history in building educational
institutions in Bengaluru. Many of these institutions, such as RV College of
Engineering, NMKRV College, RV College of Architecture and RV Dental College
are household names in Bangalore. RV University inherits this rich legacy, and
the responsibility of carrying it forward, as the youngest in the RSST family
of institutions.
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