University of Madras awaits a visionary VC – Times of India

By K Jothi Sivagnanam
Chennai: Once again the search for a new vice-chancellor for the University of Madras has begun, even as the education system grapples with the changes due to Covid-19. For the 163-year-old institution facing a financial crisis, staff vacancies and an impending National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) assessment, only a vice-chancellor of mettle can lay the foundation for a university to regain its lost position.
From inadequate finances to wrong appointments, demoralised faculty, lack of motivation among students and overall inefficiency of the system, a large number of challenges await the VC. Priority needs to be given to recruitment. At present, about 60% of the teaching positions and more than 50% of the non-teaching seats remain vacant. Due to this many departments have lost student enrolment, research funding under programmes such as SAP, CAS and DST.
Confusing reservation issues for faculty positions is further complicated by scores of litigations. The process of identifying vacancies is difficult as it is politicised within departments. Further, there is a dearth of quality teachers since central universities with better service conditions, age of retirement and hassle-free flow of funds attract better talent. The problem lies in the lack of recruitment rules, irregular appointments and promotions, which VCs in the past have failed to address.
The controversy regarding payment of pension to the university staff has forced many good teachers to leave. Pension arrears and some other payments have accumulated to `55 crore and it is mounting with each new retiree every month. The institution handles pensions through a corpus fund, but spiralling expenses after the amendment to the seventh pay commission has created a crisis. For a permanent solution, a financial system for the universities in Tamil Nadu is needed so that the salary and pension liabilities are borne by the state government, as it is being done for government-aided schools and colleges.
The second issue that needs to be addressed is the archaic examination system of the university. Based on the age-old central evaluation system, the university has to spend at least `3 crore each semester to evaluate about 13 lakh answer scripts and revalue 1 lakh more. Since most colleges don’t have teachers with the mandatory three-year service criterion for evaluation, teachers from other non-autonomous affiliated colleges have to be brought in. While these teachers complain of not getting paid after six months, questions are also raised on their quality. It is alleged that the number of applications for revaluation is high is a reflection on the poor quality of evaluation. It results in low credibility and poor delivery of an essential service expected from a university — proper evaluation and timely announcement of results.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, when most institutions are shifting to online examination and evaluation systems, University of Madras is yet to take any concrete step.
At the school level, the Class X examination taken by more than 12 lakh students is an orderly process through a digitised database. Answer sheets of each candidate has their details printed. In contrast, the university follows the age-old dummy number system that is manual written. This allows scope of corrupt practices. An overhaul is needed to ensure economy, efficiency, and speedy delivery of results with credibility.
Addressing these issues paves the way for better scores in the NAAC assessment. The university is due in June 2021 for which preparations have to be completed and the self-study report should be submitted in January 2021. The university is yet to take the first step in this direction. The accreditation may be extended to 2021-22 due to Covid-19, but the self-study report still has to be prepared. The National Institutional Ranking Framework score of the Madras university in recent years leaves much to be desired. There are many instances of underutilisation of allocated research funds. For instance, the money under the Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry’s RUSA 2.0 scheme has not been fully used. The university has also failed to spend allocations under the University Grants Commission, Department of Science and Technology and state government. Soliciting fresh funds with this dismal track record is impossible.
For the university to emerge as an institution of higher learning and research, the leadership of an able academician and visionary administrator is inevitable. It is hoped that assisted by the search committee, the governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, will shoulder the responsibility of selecting a suitable candidate who will live up to challenges.
(The author is head of department of economics and member- syndicate, University of Madras)