HYDERABAD: Union minister of state for human resource development D Purandeswari on Friday said a search committee had been constituted to select a regular vice-chancellor for the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) and that the formalities will be completed soon.The EFLU has run into several controversies in the past few months and a majority of the students have been attributing most of its problems to the absence of a regular vice-chancellor.Purandeswari, who chaired the first-ever interactive meeting between state and Central universities here at the University of Hyderabad, did not elaborate but promised that EFLU will have a regular vicechancellor soon.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the minister also sought to clear the air over the proposed innovation university in Vizag, saying that “the university will definitely be set up in Vizag and the bill is currently with the law ministry after which the future course of action would be decided.” Her clarification comes amid reports that the proposed university could be moved away from Vizag.Purandeswari also clarified that construction work at the identified land (25 acres) in Vijayawada for the proposed architecture university will start after the soil has been tested.“The identified land has been a dumping yard,” she pointed out. To a query, she replied that no decision had been taken yet regarding the nation- wide common entrance test for engineering.But prior to that, according to her, there was a need for a nation-wide uniform syllabus at 10 +2 levels for science, commerce and arts streams. She said, “there is a proposal to give special weightage in the common entrance exam considering the 10+2 marks.” On staff shortage in universities, the minister recalled that the Central government had called on governments of all the states to raise the age of retirement for teaching faculty in universities to 65 to bring uniformity in the age limit.She also announced that a one time grant of Rs 5 cr will be given to new universities to comply with 12B norms regarding infrastructural standards and developments. Earlier at the meeting, she stressed the need for enhancing cooperation among Central and state universities for the overall development of the state.The heads of the universities along with the minister decided to form two sub-committees to improve interaction among them and reach out to the society to help in the development of the state. The next review meeting would be held in three months.During the meeting, there were proposals to share resources and expertise as an important part of collaboration and development. There were also proposals to arrange a joint entrance test in broad areas of research for admission to PhD programs across the state
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