CHENNAI: Minister for Higher Education P Viswanathan on Tuesday expressed confidence of the stalemate over the appointment of vice-chancellors to state universities soon coming to an end as he revealed that the TVK-led government has sought the governor’s approval to constitute five-member search-and-selection committees.
The proposed expansion includes the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) nominee, which was the bone of contention between the previous governor and the DMK government.
Addressing media persons after inspection at a government polytechnic college in Chennai, the minister said the issue was discussed at a meeting chaired by the chief minister recently.
He said the government has requested the governor’s approval for nomination of another syndicate representative to the committees and expressed hope that the proposal would be cleared soon. Currently, the three-member V-C search panels include the university’s syndicate/senate nominee, a governor nominee and a nominee of the state government.
An issue broke out after former governor R N Ravi wanted inclusion of the UGC’s nominee in the panels. The state government opposed it.“Once the committee is constituted, vice-chancellors would be appointed without delay,” the minister said.
Earlier in the day, the minister expressed concern over the quality of engineering graduates in the state even though Tamil Nadu topped the country in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education. Inaugurating the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education’s (Tansche) ‘Uyarkalvi Uraiyadalgal’ seminar, the minister said national surveys indicate that more than 50% of the engineering graduates are not employable. “We have done comparatively better in bringing students into engineering colleges. When it comes to the quality of education, we, however, are no better. We must change the system,” he added.