After a path-breaking achievement by figuring in the top 200 global universities ranked by Times Higher Education (THE), Shoolini University has now decided to set up another university to specialise in Ancient Indian wisdom. Addressing a press conference here to share details of the Times Higher Education Impact rankings in which Shoolini University has been ranked in the batch of 101 to 200 university in the world, Founder and Chancellor Prof P K Khosla said after achieving it mission by 2022, it is now set to expand its activities. The mission to be amongst 200 global universities was set in 2009 and it is a divine will that we have achieved our mission.
As a step towards exploring the rich ancient Indian wisdom, it has submitted a proposal to the Himachal Pradesh government. He said he and senior management of the University had met chief minister Mr Jairam Thakur with the proposal. He set up a committee to examine the proposal and give its recommendations within two months. Prof Khosla said our rich heritage and wisdom was deliberately kept away by the British rulers and it was time to focus on it and we unveil the advancements made by our ancestors. He also said that the aforesaid university is a part of the Ayush Medicity embodying four components i.e. (i) Hospital and College for Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy (The College for Ayurveda will be started in the second phase in 2027). (ii) Medical Institution for Ayurveda, Yoga &Naturopathy, (iii) Health & Wellness Center and (iv) medicinal & Aromatic Plants Garden. The project has now the approval of both State and Central agencies dealing with these subjects.
Referring to the recent THE rankings, Prof Khosla said the university has also been ranked at number two in the world in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for affordable and clean energy from among 705 institutions which competed and sixth among 674 institutions which competed in water usage and care category. The prestigious rankings, considered the gold standard for international rankings of institutions of higher learning, were announced last week. Dr Khosla, who is a former vice chancellor of the CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, had conceived setting up a research focussed private university. His continued emphasis on research has led the university to be ranked number one in the country in citation impact per paper and sixth in Asia by QS. Its researchers have filed a record 1025 patents which is among the third highest in the country where all the 23 IITs are bunched together at the number one slot.
The University was also ranked 89th by the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) of the union education ministry. Complimenting the researchers at the University, Founder and Chancellor Prof P K Khosla said the latest rankings have paved the way for the university attaining greater heights in the field of research and SDGs. Pro Chancellor and Founder Mr Vishal Anand said it was the vision of Dr Khosla which has resulted in the university getting the prestigious ranking. Prof Atul Khosla advocated that the rankings aim to identify and honour institutions striving for positive change and acting as disruptive forces to be more inclusive, while doing their bit towards achieving the UN mandated SDGs. The SDGs were adopted by all 193 member states and are a culmination of decades of work on pushing forward a global commitment to tackling the biggest issues facing our world. It was felt that universities were uniquely placed to help in the implementation of the SDGs.