Programmes and activities

Orientation Programmes

The Orientation programme is of four weeks duration with a minimum of 24 working days and 144 contact hours (six hours per day). 

The objectives of our HRDC are met by structuring our Orientation Programmes into four components:

COMPONENT A:  Awareness of linkages between society, environment, development and education.                             

COMPONENT B:  Philosophy of education, Indian education system and pedagogy

COMPONENT C:  Resource awareness and knowledge generation

COMPONENT D:  Management and personality development

The topics that are covered under each segment are :

A)    Education, Social justice and Social reforms, Environmental awareness and biodiversity, Role and responsibility of a teacher, Human Rights, Disaster management, Science and society, Gender issues, Media and society,  Secularism, Understanding the culture and society of North Eastern region , Consumer rights and responsibilities, HIV/AIDS, Field visit to any distress centre.

B)    Philosophy of education, Indian education system, organizational structure, policies and programmes; Management in higher education, Issues and challenges in higher education, Contemporary strategies for Teaching,  learning and evaluation; Interactive teaching through blogging and social media, Microteaching, Use of the blackboard in classroom teaching, Exam reforms.

C)    Use of e-resources for teaching and research , Computer practicals (Advanced Power Point), ,  Cyber crime dangers & its prevention, e-content development, Moodle as a platform for teaching and evaluation, Research methodology, Research projects and sponsoring agencies, Current affairs.

D)   Communication skills, Scientific temper, Leadership, Team building and work culture, Conflict management, Transactional analysis in education, The art of counselling students, Students suicide prevention, Attitudes and values, Stress management and positive thinking, Time management, etc. 

Important Features:

• A three day workshop on e-content development.

• Visit to any distress center like old age home, orphanage, spastic society, blind school e.t.c. to sensitize the participants to the underprivileged sections of the society.

• Visit to TIFR is arranged where the participants attend a lecture on Science and its impact on our society and they are also shown the various labs where research is being done.
  
   

Refresher CourseS

The Refresher course is of three weeks duration with a minimum of 18 working days and 108 contact hours (six hours per day).

The main objectives of a Refresher course is to provide a forum for serving teachers to keep abreast of the latest advances in their subjects; to widen their knowledge horizon and also to help them to interact and share their ideas with renowned resource persons and fellow participants from other institutions.

UGC Human Resource Development Centre, University of Mumbai conducts Refresher courses in widely varying disciplines like Bio-Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Nanosciences, Mathematics, Statistics, Electronics & Instrumentation, Biotechnology, Environmental Studies, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information and Communication Technology, Library Sciences, Economics, Commerce & Management, Business Studies,  Accountancy, History, Rural Development, Social Sciences, Human Rights, Law, Gender Studies, Economics, English, Marathi, Indian Languages, Comparative Literature, Performing Arts and Fine Arts, Education & Psychology.

The Refresher course coordinators prepare course curriculum of high quality in such a manner that the content has an optimal mix of core material in the subject, emerging areas, laboratory / practical work, field / industrial visits. Curriculum design and development, examination reforms including setting question papers are some of the topics that are also covered during the course.  Since UGC has made it mandatory to have an IT component in all its programmes, one or two days are devoted to familiarize the teacher participants on the applications of IT to their discipline.  They are also given an overview of the immense knowledge resources that are available, including electronic review journals and research journals in various disciplines.  Our UGC HRDC computer lab with dual operating system in Linux and Windows is being used for all the Computer Aided Learning sessions of these courses.  Further, in every Refresher Course field visits / industrial visits are arranged to give a better exposure to the teacher participants regarding the various applications in their field of specialization which in turn facilitates industry institute interaction. 

Short Term Courses

Our UGC HRDC also conducts Short term courses of about two to six days duration on various topics for the professional development of senior faculty members and Interactive programmes as per UGC guidelines.  The theme of the short term course is selected based on the popular demand from the participants.  Some important short term programmes conducted by UGC Human Resource Development Centre, University of Mumbai are Advanced workshop on e-content development and setup and usage of virtual classroom, Disaster Management; Gender Studies; Workshop on Bioinformatics; Research Methodology in Basic and Applied Sciences; Social Science Research : Planning, Publication and Ethical guidelines; Research Methodology and Academic Writing; Soft Skills Development; Hands on training for teachers of Biological Sciences; Contemporary strategies for teaching and evaluation; Molecular Biology Techniques; Faculty Development programme : Mentoring students for their progression. 

Other programmes

Eligibility

Lecturers working in universities and colleges that are included under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, even though they may not yet be fit to be included under Section 12(B), may be invited to participate in the Orientation Programmes and Refresher Courses.  The teachers of colleges that do not yet come within the purview of Section 2(f), but have been affiliated to a university for at least two years, will be permitted to participate in the programmes/courses. However, they won't be paid TA/DA and other allowances for attending these courses.

1. Orientation Programme: Newly appointed teachers upto six years of continuous service and all those teachers who require Orientation Programme for getting higher grade can participate in this programme.

2.   Refresher Course : Participation in Orientation Programme is a prerequisite for admission to the Refresher Course.  Thereafter, after a gap of one year they can opt for a Refresher Course.  However, in exceptional cases a teacher may be allowed to complete a Refresher Course prior to completion of an Orientation Programme. There should be a minimum gap of one year between two courses, though it may be relaxed if it is essential for the teacher to fulfill eligibility conditions for career advancement.

4.   Temporary / adhoc / part time / contract teachers who have been teaching for at least three academic sessions in an institution which has been affiliated to a University for at least two years can participate in the Orientation Programme / Refresher Course to enhance their skills.

5.  Participating teachers will be deputed by the respective college / university department for the entire duration of the course.

6.   The teachers selected for the programme are to be treated as on duty with full pay and allowances by the sponsoring university / college.

7.    Universities and colleges will allow interested teachers to attend UGC Human Resource Development Centre programmes based on their eligibility.  Otherwise valid reasons will have to be intimated to the teacher concerned, as the courses that are organized for their teachers will ultimately benefit the university and college.

8.  UGC permits a teacher who is interested in attending Refresher Courses/ Orientation Programme during the period of Teacher's Fellowship as it supplements his/her professional development provided:

i. He/she surrenders living expenses for the period he/she is attending the Refresher course, and agrees to submit to the HRDC an undertaking to this effect through the concerned research centre before joining the course.

ii. The Refresher course is attended in the subject that is relevant to his/her research.

iii.  No extension in the teacher fellowship is sought on these grounds.

Duration

The Orientation Programme will be of four weeks duration, with 24 working days and 144 contact hours (six hours per day). The Refresher Course will be of three weeks duration, with 18 working days and 108 contact hours (six hours per day).  Apart from Orientation Programmes and Refresher Courses, our Human Resource Development Centre conducts Short term courses for about two to six days duration on various themes for the professional development of senior faculty members.

REGISTRATION FEE

As per the new UGC guidelines, participating teachers are required to pay a non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 1000/- for all the programmes, after the selection is intimated.  

CONFIRMATION BY PARTICIPANTS

The selected teachers must confirm participation in writing, accompanied by DD of Rs.1000/- as per the date specified in the selection letter.  Otherwise admissions are liable to be cancelled.

ATTENDENCE

Attendance is compulsory and the participants will be required to observe complete punctuality.  No absence of any kind is permissible.  There will be no public holidays during the tenure of the course. 

EVALUATION OF PARTICIPANTS

There will be continuous evaluation of the participants in this course and grades will be indicated on the certificates.  The following are the grades :

A : 75 per cent and above

B : 60 per cent to less than 75 per cent

C : 50 per cent to less than 60 per cent

F : Below 50 per cent

ACCOMMODATION

Hostel accommodation is provided to outstation participants only if advance request is made with the application.