Several measures need to be taken to improve management system of UP varsities: Study

Several measures need to be taken to improve the management system of Uttar Pradesh universities which will require amendment of the existing University Act, a study conducted by Rajbhawan said.

The study -- "University Management in Uttar Pradesh -- a view from the chancellor's office" was conducted by Juthika Patankar and Dr Rajvir Singh Rathore Principal Secretary and OSD to Governor, who is also the chancellor of the state universities, respectively was today released to media by Governor Ram Naik at a programme held in Rajbhawan.

It recommended that essential and desirable qualification and experience required for the post of vice-chancellor should be well-defined and the various University Acts should include a provision to that effect to ensure selection of high calibre, academic and suitable persons in a transparent manner.

The composition of the Search Committee prescribed in the UP State Universities Act 1973 should be amended suitably to include persons of acknowledged academic distinction and wide administrative experience, it said.

The other recommendations included setting up of university tribunals to handle service matters and all other cases of a quasi judicial nature, procedure and timeline for search committees to make the selection process fully transparent and the entire process time-bound.

Service conditions, kinds of leave, nature of disciplinary proceeding, permissions regarding foreign tours etc of VCs should be defined clearly, it said adding that there should be a mechanism for their performance appraisal.

VCs should be invariably consulted before appointment of the university administrative officers such as Registrar, Finance officer and Controller of Examination and all such appointments should be for a fixed tenure of at least three years.

Advocating autonomy of univeristies, the study said interface between government departments dealing with universities should be precisely defined and kept to the minimum so that their "autonomy is fully facilitated and respected".

It said service conditions of teaching and non-teaching staff under self-financed programmes should be made part of the acts and statutes and their should be timely incorporation of all such UGC guidelines in this regard.

End-to-end ICT (Information Communication Technology) should be adopted in a phased manner for reforms in examinations and to usher in greater efficiency, transparency and reliability and NAAC evaluation should be made a mandatory condition for availing of government financial assistance by universities.

Public representatives/nominees on university courts, senates, executive councils or boards of management must have an academic orientation and not anybody or everybody should be considered for such nomination, it said.

The study recommended several measures, including providing administrative staff to universities in the form of registrars, finance officers and examination controllers for a specified tenure and in consultation with VCs "to stem prevalent rot" in the UP University system.

It also advocated filling vacancies of teaching staff by expeditiously adopting UGC guidelines regarding qualifications and devising a template for the process of granting affiliation to colleges and ensuring strict adherence to the same within decided time-frame.

Streamlining and making transparent the work of evaluation of answer sheets, declaration of results by pressing into service all available teaching staff, adopting uniform online systems and enforcing strict standards, it said.

The study said that VCs should be put in place grievance-redressal mechanisms to reduce service related litigation and improve quality of administration and sensitise all departments of higher education to appreciate the meaning and nuances of university autonomy.

The UP governor is the chancellor of 28 universities in the state.

Around 15,60,375 university students were awarded degrees in 2016-17. Of these, the number of girl students was 7,97,646 or, a highly impressive figure of 51 per cent.

Sixty six per cent of the awards and medals were won by girl students, the report mentioned.