From the Vice-Chancellor’s Desk

My dear Students,

Welcome and thank you for choosing Sikkim University! As you already perhaps know, through the prospectus, website and through the word of mouth, our university is just about 9 years old and we still function from rented buildings spread over a distance of about 11 kms between Gangtok and its satellite town Ranipul.

The rented buildings are often polluted by noise and dust, as they are mostly located along the National Highway No. 10. There is hardly any common space for students to meet and interact with each other. There are no subsidized canteens. The hostel seats are limited because buildings are not easily available for us to turn them into hostels, and when they are available the rent is above the market rate or there is severe paucity of water. We have some extra-curricular activities started from this year and hope that the Sikkim University Students’ Association will continue to organize them under the guidance of the Dean of Students’ Welfare in future as well.

Sikkim University, on hind sight, is not such a bad place to be in. Although just about 9 years old, it was ranked 61st in the entire country of over 740 universities and 4th in Northeast India in April 2016 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Govt. of India and it was awarded 2.60 grade points out of 4.0 by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Bangalore in 2015. We provide free local transport and free emergency medical facilities to our students. We provide experiential learning opportunities to our students by sending them for fieldwork, internship, study tour, etc. We have one of the most modern and high-tech libraries in the country with facilities like auto check-in/out, remote access to all our e-resources, and a host of other in-house library services. We also have a small Career Information Centre housing books and journals related to various examinations. Our labs are some of the most sophisticated ones in the country. Our teachers are young but knowledgeable and caring about their students. We also have counseling and placement cells run by teachers. The students can go to the Grievance Redressal Cell with their grievances and Internal Complaints Committee for any sexual harassment cases. Our non-teaching staff are supportive. And the food in the hostels is not as bad as it used to be when I was a student.

Finally, if you come to know about any ragging or sexual harassment or experience it yourself please let any one of the following know: Head or In-Charge of your department, Warden of your hostel, Dean of Students’ Welfare, Registrar or me. I promise to take instant action on the accused, if the charges are found to be true. So far we have tried our best to address students’ issues on priority basis and we promise to do that in future, too. We have also fulfilled every reasonable demand of our students till now and we promise to do that in future as well.

Have a fruitful time in Sikkim University!

T.B. Subba

Vice-Chancellor