CHENNAI: Nearly 60% of the colleges affiliated to the University of Madras don’t follow UGC norms for payment of salaries to teaching staff, an ongoing inspection by the varsity has found. Further, some colleges have faculty members who don’t possess the necessary qualifications while some others don’t possess proper land records, sources said.
The inspection by teams comprising university officials and those from colleges of repute has so far covered 52 of the 94 aided and private colleges affiliated to the varsity. A questionnaire was sent to all the affiliated arts and science colleges seeking details like availability of classrooms, laboratories, and faculty and student strength.
The teams have since December last year been carrying out verification of the information with a physical inspection. It was then that the irregularities came to the fore. The university affiliation committee is now preparing reports on each of the inspected colleges, which will be submitted in the syndicate meeting for action.
Mentioning underpayment of staff as having been identified as a crucial issue, University of Madras Vice Chancellor S Gowri said, “Once the report is placed in the syndicate, the course of action against the (errant) affiliated colleges will be decided upon.”
Corroborating the V-C’s statement, a member of the college inspection team said, “We also interacted with college staff and found out that most of them are underpaid. Those holding Assistant Professor posts are getting paid a paltry sum of around Rs 30,000 which is much lesser than UGC norms.”
Further, some affiliated colleges don’t have adequate staff with PhDs. Some others, which have good NIRF ranking, didn’t produce proper land records, the member added. Meanwhile, colleges showing irregularities will be issued notice and given time for corrective action, officials said.