Cluster University of Srinagar has approved a 24-credit add-on programme in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science for its eligible undergraduate students, and cleared plans for a GPU-backed High-Performance Computing Centre (HPCC) and AI-Cell at its main campus. The decisions were taken at the university’s third Syndicate meeting, chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof. Mohammad Mobin on 27 October 2026.
Taken together, the measures give students across the university’s constituent colleges a structured route into AI and data skills alongside their main degree, and give faculty and researchers the computing power that such courses, and the research that follows them, need.
An AI and data science layer on top of the undergraduate degree
The new programme is an additional 24-credit offering, open to eligible undergraduate students rather than a separate standalone degree. That design fits the flexible, multidisciplinary structure of the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which encourages students to pick up skill-oriented credits beyond their core discipline.
₹80 lakh for GPU computing in the first phase
The proposed High-Performance Computing Centre, which will also function as the university’s AI-Cell, is estimated to cost around ₹80 lakh in its first phase. According to the university, it will provide GPU-based facilities for research, innovation, teaching and administrative services, with a focus on work in AI, data science and cyber security.
For a state university, in-house GPU capacity matters. It lets students train and test models on campus instead of relying only on free cloud tiers, and gives research scholars a shared resource for compute-heavy projects.
Paperless examinations to scale up
The Syndicate also approved expanding the university’s paperless examination system, first piloted in the B.Ed. programme. It will be extended to postgraduate, B.Ed. and B.Tech. programmes from the next academic session, moving more of the university’s assessment workflow onto digital platforms.
Other decisions and NEP progress
The meeting approved the Convocation Statutes, clearing the way for the university’s first convocation, along with statutes for the B.Tech. programme, the draft constitution of the Abdul Ahad Azad Chair and the university anthem. A one-time chance was also approved for students from the 2017–2019 batches to complete their degrees.
Presenting an overview of reforms, Prof. Mobin said the university now offers PhD programmes in 14 disciplines, with 39 research scholars enrolled and 53 supervisors identified, and is considering stipends for research scholars. Undergraduate enrolment has grown by about 7.6 per cent over 2025 and postgraduate enrolment by about 28 per cent. He also pointed to a new one-year postgraduate programme that allows graduates of the four-year undergraduate programme to join the third semester of existing two-year PG programmes.
Why it matters
As AI moves into school and college curricula across India, the gap is often infrastructure rather than intent. By pairing a credit-bearing AI and data science programme with its own GPU computing centre and a wider shift to paperless exams, Cluster University of Srinagar is building both the course and the capacity to deliver it, a template other state universities in Jammu and Kashmir and beyond may watch closely.
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