‘Onus on State governments to appoint VCs expeditiously’
The onus is on State governments to appoint ViceChancellors as soon as possible as per the regulations of University Grants Commission (UGC) on composition of VC search panels, UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said in Coimbatore on Friday.
Stating that varsities left without regular VCs affected the quality of education and the future of students, he said the courts had made it clear that a Central Act prevailed, and in this case the UGC Act superseded the State Act. The courts had also said that a UGC representative should be a part of the selection panel, Mr. Kumar said.
On M.Phil programme still being offered by some of the State universities in Tamil Nadu, he said a masters degree was enough for pursuing Ph.d,, and that as per the NEP 2020, a student completing a fouryear UG programme could pursue research, he said.
The acceptance of the NEP 2020 had been overwhelming across the country, he said in reply to a query on reluctance of the Tamil Nadu government to adopt it.
The NEP 2020 had three main objectives: aligning education to learning outcomes, catering to the students of varied cognitive, financial and socioecononic backgrounds; and delivery on a mass scale for ensuring access of quality education to all. “Can these be opposed,” Mr. Kumar wondered.
Onethird of the work on creation of Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) identity cards for 30 crore school and college students in India had been carried out. The entire task would be completed in two years. This would pave way for carrying forward the 160 academic credits obtained in four stages in school level seamlessly to the higher education platform, he said.
Universities from the USA, Australia, the UK and other European countries had evinced interest in establishing campuses in India, and a portal had been created for them to apply. IITDelhi and IITMadras had also established campuses abroad for internationalising Indian education, he said. The UGC was contemplating action on universities that failed to appoint ombudsperson for addressing the grievances of the students. About 159 universities were yet to comply with the UGC directive, he said.
The UGC had also been writing to the Secretaries and the Governors for initiation of measures to fill large numbers of teaching vacancies in universities.
To another query, the UGC Chairman said all standalone B.Ed. colleges would lose their relevance after 2030.