Swachhata Award 2019 for The NorthCap University, Gurugram from Govt. of India

Since its inception in 1996, TheNorthCap University, Gurugram (formerly ITM University) has focused on providing world-class teaching and state-of-the-art infrastructure to its students. As a part of this endeavor, the university has painstakingly maintained a clean and beautiful campus to ensure that its students can study in an environment that enhances learning and productivity.

The University’s commitment towards creating a culture of cleanliness has enabled it to participate in the Swachhata Rankings of Higher Education Institutions for the past few years. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India began ranking and awarding educational institutions from 2017 onwards based on the cleanliness maintained on their campuses. This annual exercise is a part of the Government of India’s ‘Swachhata drive’, which aims to promote hygienic and ecologically responsible institutions by generating healthy competition amongst them.

The MHRD evaluates each participating University based on several parameters to ascertain whether the University follows hygienic and environmentally friendly practices. These parameters include the maintenance of cleanliness in and around the campus, effective waste management, cleanliness of toilets, disposal of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, water conservation, rainwater harvesting and standards of food preparation in canteens. 85% of the marks allotted to each participant are based on swachhta inside the campus, and the balance 15% on activities outside the campus.

Since the very first year that this award was instituted, the MHRD received as many as 975 entries from various Central, State and Private Deemed Universities/Institutions in the country. The extent of participation has only increased since then, especially since the scope of eligibility was widened to include smart campuses. In December 2019, The NorthCap University competed in a pool of over 3750 institutions, colleges and universities, and featured amongst the Top 5 UGC approved Universities in the country in the Non-Residential category.

NCU credits this achievement to the hard work of its gardeners and housekeepers - the ‘Karmayogis’, who are selflessly dedicated towards maintaining the University campus. Their efforts to keep the garden in its aesthetically vibrant form throughout the year have also been recognized by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). HUDA has consistently ranked the University gardens as the best amongst educational institutions in Gurugram for 18 years in succession. This is yet another illustration of the University’s commitment towards creating a clean and green environment for its students. NCU will continuously strive to maintain such high standards of cleanliness.

Dr. Shrutimita Mehta

Centre for Languages Learning