Bengal professors' body calls UGC VC appointment draft 'infringement' on academic autonomy

KOLKATA: The All Bengal University Teachers Association (ABUTA), a representative body of professors, on Sunday described the UGC draft recommendations on appointment of vice-chancellors in varsities as infringement of the academic autonomy of universities. ABUTA spokesperson Goutam Maity said in a statement that the UGC vested the power to appoint VCs of universities all over the country – both state-run and central ones – on the chancellor/visitor.

The governor is the Chancellor of state universities, while the President of India is the Visitor of central universities. "The UGC is acting at the behest of BJP government at the Centre and vested the power and authority to appoint members of the search committee on the Chancellor/Visitor, taking away the autonomy of other stakeholders like the state and the university representatives... We are against it,” Maity said, adding, the ABUTA has sent a letter to the UGC articulating its stand.

Also read New UGC regulations may create rubber-stamp VCs, conflict with states: JNU professor

The UGC draft guidelines were issued earlier this month, and the process of forming search committees for appointing full-time VCs in 34 Bengal universities has started, officials said. ABUTA also expressed reservations about the UGC’s move on recruitment of teachers in higher educational institutions, making it no more mandatory to have a PhD degree in a particular discipline. "This would compromise the teaching quality and harm students academically," the association said.

The new UGC draft will also amend the norms for hiring faculty members in universities, allowing applicants having a postgraduate degree in Master of Engineering (ME) and Master of Technology (MTech), with at least 55 per cent marks, to directly get recruited to the assistant professor level without qualifying for the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC). "... These regulations also facilitate the selection of faculty members from multi-disciplinary backgrounds.

The primary objective of these regulations is to broaden the horizon and freedom and flexibility, so that faculty members can excel in areas they are passionate about," UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar had recently said. "The revised regulations ensure that contribution to knowledge and community, rather than rigid qualifications, are valued," he had said. The guidelines focus on a more holistic and qualitative assessment, Kumar had stated.