Academicians push for reforms to improve standards in Andhra Pradesh public universities

Cite a severe dearth of quality faculty members required to maintain high standards of teaching and research, point to the plummeting student enrolment in many programmes in languages, social sciences and basic sciences

A large group of academicians and intellectuals held a meeting here recently to thrash out possible ways and policy measures to address the critical gaps in higher education sector in Andhra Pradesh.

The members, supported by the non-profit organisation Forum for Democracy and Development, have submitted a report to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, urging him to introduce reforms to make State universities robust and dynamic.

Citing a serious dearth of quality faculty members to maintain high standards of teaching and research, they pointed to the plummeting student enrolment in many programmes in languages, humanities, social sciences and basic sciences. “A systematic understanding of the state of public universities in A.P. is necessary to reinvent, restructure and rejuvenate them,” said convenor of the Forum P. Narasimha Rao, who is also the former Vice-Chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE).

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Narasimha Rao said the option is not of leaving it to private universities and institutions to fill the vacuum created by a decline of public universities. “State universities have an important role to play in the higher education system in Andhra Pradesh,” he said, emphasising that public-funded universities were not a lost cause.

The forum wants the government to restructure the institutional framework for governance. “A governance model similar to the IITs and Central universities is the need of the hour,” said C.V. Raghavulu, former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University.

Recommendations

The forum proposed a ‘Governing Council’ for each university as a supreme authority of the institution. This would formulate and review the broad policies and devise measures for development of the institution. The forum recommended that the size of the Executive Council (EC) be fixed at nine members and that it may be entrusted with the institution’s executive functions and required meet once every three months.

The members said to reinvent universities, the government should differentiate between affiliated and unitary universities based on the strength of the teaching and administrative staff and physical infrastructure. The unitary universities should be allowed to focus on teaching and research that meets national and international standards. This is because the responsibility of managing a wide variety of affiliating colleges has burdened the universities and has dented their ability to attend to their primary task of imparting quality teaching and conducting research, they said.

The forum members underlined the need to revisit accountability and administrative efficiency. They called for establishment of accountability mechanisms with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including those for vice-chancellors and all other statutory officers of the universities.

Seeking autonomy for universities, they said the role of the government in running university administration should be minimal, and the institutions should be freed from government protocols and political interference so they can protect academic freedom.

They also insisted on alignment of recruitment policies of State universities with those of Central universities, linking faculty promotion to performance and avoiding appointment of academicians to positions such as registrar and controller of examinations. They said vice-chancellors should be spared from non-academic functions such as taking up the responsibility of running the university hostels.

Ban regulatory panel

The forum members urged the government to abolish the existing A.P. Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APHERMC) and repeal of the related Act. They want the old practice of admissions and the Fee Regulatory Committee to be revived as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

Published - November 29, 2024 07:03 pm IST