BENGALURU: It’s been two months since the state Department of Higher Education withdrew the government nominees from all state-run university syndicates, but the fresh nominations are yet to take place.
The department of Higher Education has received over 3,000 applications for the post of syndicate member and Higher Education minister GT Devegowda has said, no person will be nominated if he/she is ineligible. “There is pressure and lobby going on for the post. But, I have made it clear that no political appointment will be made. I don’t bother which party the person is affiliated to, but he/she should fit the criteria,” said GT Devegowda.
As the government has withdrawn the nominations made by the previous government, some of the universities are struggling to conduct syndicate meetings as there is no quorum. Reacting to it, G T Devegowda said, all these appointments will be made by October 15.
To appoint pure academicians for these posts, the department of Higher Education is revising the guidelines for appointments. “Though the Karnataka State Universities Act (2000) says, any expert from the field of education can be appointed as a syndicate member, there were many people appointed with just graduation as their qualification. From this year onwards, one should be a professor, a research scholar or a PhD holder to get appointed,” mentioned minister.
These new set of guidelines for nomination/appointment of syndicate members have been submitted to CM H D Kumaraswamy.The minister even said that he had received recommendation letters from several politicians across all the parties to appoint syndicate members. “I will personally sit with my department officials and shortlist the names. I don’t bother if the candidates are affiliated to any political party, all I will look for, is their academic qualification and expertise in the field of education,” he said.