On Prof Najma’s D-Day, netizens flood virtual world with wishes
Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Prof Najma Akhtar received Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country from President of India Ramnath Kovind at a ceremony held at the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
She was for the award for her invaluable contribution in the field of literature and education, said the university. Her daughter Farha Khan and son Saad Akhtar were also present during the award function.
Prof Akhtar has the distinction of being the first woman Vice-Chancellor of JMI-an institution accredited with A++ by National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) in December, 2021, said the university.
She is widely recognised as a leading educationist for having brought transformation in the delivery of quality education in premier educational institutions of the country, said the university.
Prof Akhtar led Jamia to bag 6th rank in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Ministry of Education (MoE), GoI. Under her leadership the university also achieved outstanding performance by securing 95.23 per cent score among all central universities in a performance evaluation done by the Ministry of Education for the year 2019-20, said the university.
Born on November 13, 1953, Prof Akhtar received her PhD in Education on the topic “A Comparative Study on Conventional & Distance Education System of Higher Education”. A gold medalist her Master’s, she holds MA in Education and MSc in Botany.
She has worked as Professor and was the Head, Department of Training & Capacity Building in Education at National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi.
She worked in the Distance Education Programme at IGNOU, New Delhi and was the Founder Director of the State Director of the State Institute of Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT) at erstwhile Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. She has also held the position of Director, Academic Programmes at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) besides the coveted position of Controller of Examinations and Admissions in AMU, said the university.
Prof Akhtar has been Visitor’s Nominee on Selection Committee and Executive Committee of Maulana Azad National Urdu University(MANUU), Hyderabad, Delhi University, Assam University and JMI. She has been on the Management Committee of Delhi Public School, Member of Empowered Committee of Bihar State Madarsa Education Board, Member of High Level Expert Committee of the Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India., Member of National Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, Board of Management, Jamia Hamdard, Delhi Member of General Assembly of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi, Member of National Academic Advisory Committee of the Indian Social Science Academy and Search Committee for appointment of new Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, Member of Experts Group on NEP – 2020, Speaker of Senate, IIT Delhi, Member of University Council Cluster University, Srinagar and Member of Governing Council, Association of Indian Universities.
