The first date in the history of Punjabi University is as recent as August 5, 1960. That was the day on which the Punjab Government notified the appointment of a Commission to prepare the blueprint for a unitary University named for Punjabi. Establishment of "unitary" Universities as distinguished from
affiliat­ing ones for the furtherance of research and knowledge and for the projection of indigenous languages into the system of instruction were trends which became accelerated after Independence. The dominant urge behind them was for cultural reassertion and for diversifying the structure inherited from the British with a view to making teaching a more intimate process, strengthening research and preventing wastage. In fulfillment of these objectives, the Punjab Government proposed to set up in the state a new University. The Commission nominated was to be headed by Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala and had among its members distinguished educationists and public men such as Dr Bhai Jodh Singh, Dr P.S. Gill, Dr Anup Singh, Dr A.C. Joshi, Sardar Hukam Singh, Sardar Ujjal Singh and Malik Hardit Singh.
         The Commission handed in its report on February 13, 1961, and it was released to the Press by the Government on February 27. Two main recommendations of the Commission laid down that the pro­posed University should be a multi-faculty one, embracing both humanistic and scientific studies so that the Punjabi language had the chance of developing in proximity to diverse disciplines, and that colleges in the town in which it came to be located should stand disaffiliated from the old Panjab University and admitted to the privileges of the new University. A point which attracted much public interest was the likely seat of the University.

The Commission favoured Patiala and this was a recommendation which was eventually accepted by the Government, especially in view of the fact that colleges belonging to seven different faculties were already functioning here--a facility which no other city in the state claimed. The required legislation was put through in 1961, and a notification enforcing the Act passed by the Punjab Assembly was issued on April 30, 1962, fixing a radius of ten miles from the offices of the University as its territorial jurisdiction which gave it the nine colleges situated in the city of Patiala. Dr Bhai Jodh Singh was named the first Vice-Chancellor, and one of the old princely buildings--Baradari Palace--was placed at the disposal of the University which was formally opened by Dr S. Radhakrishnan, President of India, on June 25, 1962. It has since then been a dramatic story of determined action, of speedy growth and expansion.
      The University authorities were constituted in terms of the statutory provisions. The first meeting of the Senate was held on July 15, 1962. The Syndicate met for the first time on September 8, and the Academic Council on October 9. From the admissions of the following year, i.e. 1963, six postgraduate departments of teaching, including two for science subjects, had started functioning. In the same year, the University set up its own examinations. On January 18, 1964, took place the first Convocation at which Professor Humayun Kabir gave the address. A site was chosen on the advice of a committee consisting, among others, of Dr M.S. Randhawa, Dr Bhai Jodh Singh and the chief engineers of the Government in the departments of Buildings and Roads, Public Health, and Irrigation.

The land was quickly acquired, master plan drawn up under the   

guidance of the famous architect,    P. Jeanneret, and construction started. Shifting over to the new campus began in 1965.
     The phenomenal burgeoning of teaching departments, research bureau and specialized units on the one hand and the commissioning of new blocks, hostels, stadium and faculty houses on the other gave the University the needed spread and dimension. By the end of the sixties, it had acquired nearly all the important features of a modern seat of higher learning. The University Library, a fine concrete and glass structure, which today contains nearly 240,000 volumes, had been

built, the Guru Gobind Singh Bhawan constructed, the hospital opened, the printing press set up, the administrative block completed and the Student Home inaugurated. The next four years witnessed the multiplication of teaching blocks and auditoriums, laboratories and, equipment, parks and playgrounds, teachers' flats and hostels as well as the construction of the prestigious Assembly Hall and the Punjabi Bhavan, and the laying out of University gardens. In sum, within the space of a decade or so, the University had taken its envisaged form or shape and become an exciting academic and intellectual centre.
     Apart from the traditional and established postgraduate departments and courses of study, the University has, over the years, added such new features as the Department of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Studies, the Guru Gobind Singh Department of Religious Studies, the Department of Punjabi Literary Studies, the Department of Punjab Historical Studies, the Department of Development and Planning, and the Centre for Research in Economic Change. Other innovative and

specialized programmes include courses in Business Management, Anthropological Linguistics, Human Biology, Sports Medicine, Electronics, Nuclear Physics, Television Engineering, Space Science, Biochemistry, Forensic Science, Speech and Drama,  Journalism, Correspondence Courses, and Vocational Courses.
        A measure of a University's academic and literary progress may be had from the quantum and quality of its publication. The Punjabi University has, during the brief span of its existence, produced 950 titles, 710 of them in Punjabi. These include learned and critical works, glosses and lexicons, old texts and manuscripts. Under the, medium switchover plan, scores of books have been produced in Punjabi in various disciplines making the programme one of the fastest and most effective pro­jects in the country. A number of scholarly journals such as The Panjab Past and Present, The Journal of Religious Studies, Khoj Patrika and Bhakha Sanjam continue to promote work and research in various areas of specialization. Rare manuscripts and priceless personal libraries, belong­ing to eminent men of letters and writers, gifted to the University have enriched its bibliographical resources. No one working on any aspect of Punjab history or culture anywhere in the world can possibly complete his research without reference to these.

     In 1969, colleges within the districts of Bhatinda, Sangrur and Ropar were affiliated to the University. This somewhat changed its character and increased in diverse ways and directions its responsibilities. Yet its principal focus--its statutory obligation for the advancement of Punjabi language and culture--remains intact, and the infrastructure already created to this end retains its vitality.