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+<!-- pubdate: 20210305 -->
+<!-- author: Prof. Mihir Arjunwadkar -->
+
+# Case Study: SCMS - Savitribai Phule Pune University Pune, India
+
+The Department of Scientific Computing, Modeling & Simulation,
+Savitribai Phule Pune University Pune, India, has a long history (more
+than 20 years) of preferring Free software over proprietary software
+in its academic programs. We presently offer two academic degree
+programs, one in scientific computing, and the other in modeling &
+simulation. Students from both the programs require substantial
+interaction with computers and software at an advanced level.
+
+Although markets are filled with non-free software targeted
+specifically at such academic programs, our experience tells us that
+their use can be easily avoided. Many high-quality Free Software tools
+are available, and some of these are, in fact, better than their
+proprietary counterparts. For example, we have been using E-learning
+platform Moodle consistently since 2015 to manage courses, conduct
+exams, and keep track of every single activity related to various
+courses. All our computer labs and servers run on GNU/Linux based
+operating systems. We encourage students and faculty to use Free
+software tools like Python, Julia, etc., GNU octave or SciLab instead
+of MATLAB, Mathics instead of Mathematica, R instead of
+S-Plus/SAS/minitab/etc., GNU compilers instead of Intel compilers,
+Signal instead of WhatsApp, OpenFOAM instead proprietary CFD tools,
+etc. This is in addition to departmental services like ticketing
+system (RT), mail client (RoundCube), Git server (Gitlab), etc.
+
+The ongoing pandemic has seen a big surge for non-free software like
+Zoom and Google meet: We find that freedom-respecting platforms like
+Jitsi meet for video conferencing, SimpleScreenRecorder and Open
+Broadcaster Software (OBS) for screen/video recording, etc., work
+great. Recorded classes are in turn hosted on our Moodle or Nextcloud
+servers instead of proprietary services like Dropbox, Google drive,
+etc. This is possible because we maintain our own servers, and decent
+connectivity/bandwidth is available (through the University) to host
+these services.
+
+The pandemic also gave us an opportunity to interact with and help
+sister departments to adopt GNU/Linux, Moodle, and Free software in
+general: The assurance of readily available local expertise in Free
+software was enough for many to start considering a move to Free
+software. Shrinking budgets thanks to the pandemic seem to be
+providing a financial incentive.
+
+We wholeheartedly encourage and recommend educational institutions,
+students, teachers, administrators, and decision-makers to start using
+freedom-respecting Free software tools. We will be happy to advise
+(and assist, to whatever extent possible) educational institutions
+which are considering adoption of Free Software.
+
+(On a factual note, the department does not interfere with the
+software preferences and decisions related to research funding brought
+in by individual researchers.)
+
+Prof. Mihir Arjunwadkar<br>
+Head,<br>
+Dept. of Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation,<br>
+Savitribai Phule Pune University,<br>
+Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007<br>
+
+Contact details:<br>
+<office@scms.unipune.ac.in><br>