Department Profile

Department Profile

The department of statistics was established in 1961 with M. Sc. Statistics. Growing need of faculties in the subject statistics led to growth of the department in number of faculties as well as students and other infrastructure. By 1977 Prof. S.M. Shah, the first head of the department, guided four faculties in three different areas of research. In the year 2005 the department was allotted the entire third floor of the mathematics building which helped the department to expand physical facilities and enhance academic and research programmes. Presently the department has seven regular sanctioned positions and four ad hoc (self finance) positions of which four regular and three ad hoc positions are filled and remaining are in the process of recruitment. Department is running three PG programmes and two certificate courses other than two Ph.D. research programmes.

History

History

In the year 1961 the department of statistics took its initiation in the Department of Mathematics. Prof. S. R. Patel, then joined as lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, initiated the M.Sc. programme in Statistics. In 1964 the university recruited Dr. S. M. Shah as a Reader in Statistics and under his headship established a separate Department of Statistics. Subsequently other faculties joined the department at different positions. The brief details are provided in the following table.

Sr. No.	Name	Designation and Date of joining	Subsequent promotions/appointments etc
1.	Dr. S.R. Patel	1961, Lecturer	Joined as Reader in 1977 Promoted as a Professor in 1985 Head of the Department from 1987-1992
2.	Dr. S. M. Shah	1963, Professor	Joined as Reader and Head in 1963
2.	Dr. D.N.Shah	1969,Lecturer	Joined as Reader in 1978 Joined as Professor in 1992 Head of Department from 1992-1997
3.	Dr. P.N.Jani	1977, Lecturer	Joined as Reader in the in 1985
4.	Dr. C.C.Gujarathi	1978,Lecturer	Joined as Reader in 1987 Joined as Professor in 1998 Head of the Department from 1997-2003
5.	Dr. P.A.Patel	1990, Lecturer	Joined as Reader in 1994 Promoted to Professor in 2003 Head of the Department from 2012-2016 Head of the Department (in-charge) from 2019-2020
6.	Dr. A. Shanubhogue	1990,Reader	Promoted as Professor in 1998. Professor and Head 2003-2012, 2016-2019
7.	Dr. J.M.Divecha	1991, Lecturer	Joined as Reader in 1998. Designated as Associate Professor in 2006 Promoted as Professor in 2011.
8.	Dr. M.B.Bhatt	1995, Lecturer	Promoted as Associate Professor in 2015
9.	Ms. R.P.Shah	2003, Lecturer	Left in 2006 to join M. S. University of Baroda
9.	Mr. M.V.Bhatt	2006, Lecturer	Left in 2010 to join Administrative of SPU
10.	Mr. D.Kumar	2008, Lecturer	Left after few months
11.	Dr. D.P.Raykundaliya	2008, Lecturer	Promoted as Senior Scale Assistant Professor in 2015
12.	Dr. Khimya S. Tinani	2021, Assistant Professor	Joined in the month of August

Department Heads

Department Heads

Sr. No.	Head of the Department	Tenure
1	Prof. S. M. Shah	June 1963 – June 1987
2	Prof. S. R. Patel	July 1987 – Nov 1992
3	Prof. D. N. Shah	Dec 1992 – April 1997
4	Dr. P. N. Jani (in charge)	May 1997 – June 1997
5	Dr. C. C. Gujarathi (in charge)	July 1997 – July 1998
6	Prof. C. C. Gujarathi	Aug 1998 – July 2003
7	Prof. Ashok Shanubhogue	Aug 2003 – February 2012
8	Prof. P A Patel	March 2012-June 2016
9	Prof.Ashok Shanubhogue	July 2016-
10	Prof. P. A. Patel (in charge)	Oct 2019 – July 2020
11	Prof. Jyoti. M. Divecha	July 2020 –

Progress Under Heads

Progress Under Heads

(A) S.M. Shah

Prof. S.M. Shah was instrumental in the establishment of separate statistics department in the university. During his tenure he got sanctioned one professor, two reader and two lecturer positions. Prof.S.M.Shah himself being active researcher, encouraged research activities in the department. All the teachers during his tenure obtained their Ph.D under his guidance. He introduced three main branches of research, viz., Design of Experiments, Sampling Theory and Statistical Inference.

(B) S.R. Patel

Prof. S.R. Patel was able get one lecturer and one reader positions from the UGC. He introduced desk top computers in the department and established a small computer laboratory in the department. He initiated a course on computer programming for M.Sc statistics.

(C) D.N. Shah

Prof. D.N. Shah took initiative in introducing computer related course at B.Sc level in the colleges. He further enhanced the computer laboratory of the department by procuring more desk top computers.

(D) C.C. Gujarathi

Prof. Gujarathi took initiatives in computerizing statistics practical. He also revised the syllabi of M.Sc. programme as per the UGC modal curriculum. He was instrumental in introducing C++ programming language in the M.Sc. curriculum. He managed to get donation from daughters of Prof. S.M. Shah to establish the “Late Prof. S.M. Shah” Statistical Laboratory. During his tenure he enhanced the computer laboratory with then latest computers and procured Matlab, Lotus, Visual Basic and SPSS and other software. He also initiated campus recruitments by inviting companies Rajshree Yarns and Gujarat Glass.

(E) Ashok Shanubhogue

Prof. Shanubhogue, after joining as Head in the 2003, continued to follow the approach adopted by Prof. Gujarathi in the development of the department. He took the following initiatives.

Revised the syllabi and introducing semester system in the department.
Introduced two specialized branches- Biostatistics, Financial statistics.
Introduced compulsory project work in the M.Sc. curriculum
Brought out Placement Brochures and organizing campus recruitments.
Started a new Master’s programme under UGC innovative programme scheme called Master in Quality and Productivity Management(M.Q.P.M)
Established DST-FIST grant modernized computer laboratory.
Established department student and research library.
Introduced (a) Certificate Course in SPSS (b) Certificate Course in Biostatistics (c) Certificate Course in Financial Statistics
Formed Alumni Association
Organized “Career opportunities in Statistics” seminars regularly for student awareness about the subject Statistics.
Organized training programmes at low cost for enhancing cocurricular skills.

(F) P. A. Patel

Prof. P. A. Patel in his tenure improved the curriculum design of M. Sc. programmes by exercising his in-depth understanding of the classical statistical inference. He emphasized on teaching statistics in a popularized way.

(G) Jyoti M. Divecha

Prof. Jyoti Divecha continued the mission of the department to provide society with skilled professionals in Statistics. She focused on improving the utilization of the department strength and infrastructure.

Future Plan

The unreserved and whole hearted contributions by the superannuated teachers of the department have helped gain the recognition as one of the leading departments in the western region. It is considered as one of the best departments in terms of up-to-date teaching, present-day research and extension activities. Ours is the first department among UGC recognized statistics departments, which bring out placement brochures / e-brochures and conduct placement activities since 2004. Our teachers have done research in many leading areas of statistics, and have regularly organized Seminars, Symposia, Conferences, Workshops, Training programs. Our alumni are spread over various fronts, they are working in government sectors, corporate / financial sectors, educational institutes and abroad. To respect the efforts put forth by our predecessors, we have planned to expand the activities of the department further. Our first objective is to enhance Industry and Academic Linkage through industrial research and consultancy activities.

Encourage teachers/students of the department to interact with nearby industries for M. Sc. integrated internship Projects.
Implement 6 Sigma tools within the department so as to create a research-oriented environment in the department.
Carry out M. Sc. projects on Government / Industry / India related data to understand the Indian scenario better.
Engage in basic Statistical innovations and Research.