Academics rue headless universities

COIMBATORE: Academics have expressed a renewed concern over the directionless manner in which half-a-dozen headless universities are functioning in Tamil Nadu. Some of these universities, where Vice-Chancellors had demitted office last year, do not have legitimate administrative heads such as Registrar and Controller of Examination.The Higher Education Ministry is yet to set in motion the process for selecting Vice-Chancellors to the Madurai Kamaraj University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli, Mother Teresa University in Kodaikanal, Thiruvalluvar University in Vellore, Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University in Chennai, and Tamil University in Thanjavur.Ministry officials have justified the delay saying they are keen on cleaning up the mess in the higher education sector, which has been riddled with corruption due to political appointment of Vice-Chancellors during the DMK regime.However, academics argued that keeping the posts vacant for long has slowed down the functioning of these universities. “The Higher Education Principal Secretary is holding fort as head of the convener’s committees in five of these universities to handle administration till Vice-Chancellors are appointed. This has led to a kind of chaos in administration as it is simply impossible for a person sitting in Chennai to effectively manage the affairs of universities scattered in different districts,” said Prof K Pichandy, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers (AUT).He contended that universities will lose their autonomy if they were to function under the control of bureaucrats. Prof S Krishnaswamy, convener, Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations endorsed his views. “Without a Vice-Chancellor the functioning of universities has been affected. Taking policy decisions, starting new courses, etc, and other day to day issues have come to a naught,” he insisted.Pichandy appealed to CM J Jayalalithaa to intervene and restore the autonomy of universities by appointing competent V-Cs.