Chancellors council to iron out issues
No room for endless wrangling between Syndicate and VCs over university matters
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-10-28 04:33 GMT
Kochi: The meeting of vice-chancellors in the state held here on Monday decided to constitute a chancellor’s council for discussing the issues in higher education and problems common to the universities.
The meeting convened by Justice P. Sathasivam, Governor and Chancellor of 13 universities in the state, decided that the council would consist of the pro-chancellor who is also the minister for education, vice-chairman, higher education council, all vice-chancellors of universities headed by the chancellor, secretary, higher education and secretary to the Governor apart from the Governor himself.
The chancellor of 13 universities in the state and Kerala Governor Justice P. Sathasivam has made it abundantly clear that there will not be any room for endless wrangling between Syndicate members and vice-chancellors over matters pertaining to the universities. The solution has to be found within the legal framework of the varsities, he said.
“If the vice-chancellor identifies that even the majority decision of the Syndicate is against the Act and Statute of the University, he can point it out to them. The final decision should be as per the Act passed by the State Legislature and the Statute. In case of any violation in this regard, the aggrieved party can approach the Chancellor for redressal of the grievance," said Justice P. Sathasivam at a press conference convened after a meeting of 13 vice-chancellors at Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) on Monday.
Each vice-chancellor made a presentation at the meeting following which deliberations were held between the vice-chancellors, the Chancellor and the pro-chancellor and Education minister P. K. Abdu Rabb and the Additional chief secretary in charge of Higher Education K. M. Abraham.
The vice-chancellors agreed to publish an academic timetable with a definite schedule for admission, examination and release of results from the year 2015-16. The Chancellor will monitor the implementation of the same and will make necessary interventions, if not strictly followed.
Vice chancellors will have to personally intervene with each board of studies and the academic council to ensure that the syllabi and pedagogy of the university is on par with the best in the country, after identifying the deficiency gap in the syllabi. The Chancellor asked each vice-chancellor to set a target for introducing Massive Online Open Courses so that the best educational content in the world will be made available to students under them.
The Chancellor also asked the VCs to ensure proper regulatory intervention in the quality of education in self-financing institutions under each university. “This can be achieved by stricter evaluation of examinations and valuation and installing CCTV cameras at examination centres,” he said.
Justice Sathasivam made it clear that the percentage of growth in tapping the funds from the UGC and other sources will be reckoned as a major parameter in assessing performance. Collaboration with international organizations of repute, signing of MoUs with corporate houses for establishing linkages, number of add-on courses, particularly those run by the university, availing of opportunities under the Additional Skill Acquisition Programmes (ASAP) etc., will be factored while assessing the efforts taken by varsities for upgrading employability of students. A quarterly review format will be introduced to review the performance of the universities every three months.
Meanwhile, Governor Justice P. Sathasivam, Chancellor for 12 universities in the State and former Chief Justice of India may be strict about following rules, but when it comes to following UGC regulations on the qualification criteria for the appointment of VCs, he seems to be fumbling.
The first VC's appointment made by him was that of Cusat VC Dr J Letha, who did not have the UGC-specified 10 years’ experience as a university professor to become a VC. He made the appointment while the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently ordered that the UGC regulation be followed in this regard.
When this was pointed out to Justice Sathasivam, he said, “The matter is under the consideration of the Supreme Court now and if I comment on it, it will be sub-judice.”
When repeatedly asked why the UGC regulation was not followed in the VC's appointment, he said, “You have to look at the bio-data (of the persons) and the statute of the university.” When it was again pointed out that the statute of Cusat was silent in this respect, he conveniently ignored the question and turned to wind up the press conference in a hurry.