Commenting the Tamil Nadu government’s move to raise the retirement age of vice-chancellors of nine State universities to 70, from the current 65 years, State Planning Commission Member and former vice-chancellor of Anna University E Balagurusamy, said: “Previously, a person over 62 years could not be considered as he would not be able to serve the full term of three years before reaching retirement age. Now, this can go up to 67 years and highly experienced hands could be brought in to manage these institutions.”
Also, the move was a wise one as the retirement age of teachers in Central universities is already 65. “This will help tap the talent of those who get relieved from Central universities as well,” he said.
Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT-Kanpur M Anandakrishnan, said while the ordinance was a good move, the university system would be further strengthened if State governments adopted all norms prescribed by the UGC when it came to vice-chancellors.
“The UGC has also framed guidelines on the qualification of V-Cs which aim at bringing in the best of administrators. It would augur well for the universities if all such guidelines are adopted by the State governments,” he said.