BHUBANESWAR: Thirty years after the Orissa Universities Act 1989 was framed, Odisha Government has amended it with promulgation of The Orissa Universities (Amendment) Ordinance 2020. The objective is to bring in reforms in the State-run universities, strengthening them academically and equip the institutions with administrative efficiency.
The amendment does away with the Senate system and makes Syndicate the apex decision making body, introduces Government representation in Syndicate, enhances tenure of Vice Chancellors, hands out responsibility of recruitment of faculty members to Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) besides making the university audit reports public on a yearly basis. Four days back, the State Cabinet gave it the nod. The Ordinance has now received assent of the Governor.
Odisha has 10 state-run universities. And, Utkal University was the only one to figure in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020 list when it landed the 96th spot.
The need for reforms in universities, their academic and administrative systems needs no further validation. Chairman of Odisha State Higher Education Council State and former VC of Utkal University Ashok Das feels the amendment will impact the universities positively by making the administration stronger while aiming at improving ranking and grades of State-run universities under the NIRF and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) respectively.
Tenure of Vice Chancellors
Das says the move to enhance tenure of VCs from three years to four years gives them an opportunity to make long-term contribution to universities.
“This is a noteworthy change. Usually, indoctrination of a VC into a university takes nearly six months to one year and in the last six to eight months, the VCs are not allowed to do any official work. By and large, the VC’s tenure is effective up to 1.5 to 2 years. By increasing the tenure, he/she will get a longer time period to implement new projects and initiate development work”, he says.
VC of Utkal University Prof Soumendra Mohan Patnaik agrees: “It is progressive as the three year tenure was too short for any VC to plan a development course and execute.”
Ramadevi Women’s University VC Prof Padmaja Mishra echoes similar sentiments. The VCs will now get more time to understand the functioning of their universities and work accordingly, she says.
Replacing Senate with an ‘Effective’ Syndicate
Opinion is divided when it comes to the Government’s decision to dispense with the Senate altogether. As per the amended law, Syndicate will now function as the highest authority of a university instead of the Senate. Educationist and former VC Siba Prasad Adhikari questions the overnight decision of amending the Odisha Universities Act, 1989.
“The impact of the amendment will be strong. Doing away with the Senate and handing over the recruitment process to OPSC leaves no scope for autonomy,” he says. As per the new norms, the Syndicate will now have adequate representation of the State Government too, apart from the Chancellor.
On September 4, universities across the State were directed by the Odisha Government to abolish the existing Syndicates and restructure them with the adequate representation of Chancellor as well as the State Government.
“Senate was a statutory body with representation from heads of various departments of the university, non-teaching staff, representative teachers from affiliated colleges, students having excellence in subjects, alumni members and two MLAs. The Senate is called a ‘Court’ in Central universities. The Senate meets once in a year to discuss the annual report or annual account for approval and in addition, suggests further improvement of the university. All State and Central universities across the country have this statutory body”, Adhikari says, adding, abolishing the body only in Odisha public universities is not desirable. Opposition political parties like BJP and Congress say the move to have adequate representation of Government in the Syndicate will impact autonomy of the institution.
However, others believe that Senate did not make any cut in the university administration and policy making. “The Senate comprised legislators and local politicians who were mostly unaware of the university academics and they hardly met even once a year. Doing away with it will have no major impact”, says a former VC of Berhampur University, requesting anonymity.
VC search panel
The State Government’s move to have its own representative instead of a Syndicate representative in the three-member search committee constituted by the Chancellor for appointment of a new VC has raised eyebrows. The search panel used to comprise a Chancellor’s representative and one representative each of the UGC and Syndicate.
“The Syndicate includes the registrar, two professors and Director of Higher Education department, who are all State Government employees. What is the need for appointing an academician, nominated by the State Government, as a member of the Search Committee in place of the nominee of the Syndicate of the University?” says Adhikari, adding it would encourage Government interference and deprive the university of having its fair representation in selection.
Suggestion is if the State Government wishes to have its representative in the committee; it must increase the number of members to four and Syndicate should have a representative to choose the leadership.
OPSC role
Most academicians, however, are unhappy with OPSC being handed the job of recruiting teachers and non-teaching staff. OPSC is a bureaucratic body with little knowledge about the extensive university recruitment process, they say.
“Recruitment is generally done in adherence with UGC norms, MHRD guidelines and university requirements. How can OPSC, which deals with OAS, OFS or OES, be a competent body to recruit professors for a university?” says the former Fakir Mohan University VC.
Academicians suggest that the Government should constitute a Higher Education division in the OPSC which would study and understand the recruitment process in universities before going ahead with it. The new laws should be worked out in a manner to strengthen the universities from being factories producing degrees to ‘universities of content and research’, academicians said.
Most greet the decision of making annual audit reports of universities accessible to the general public by uploading them to varsity websites for at least three years. Das says it will make the whole process less cumbersome. Usually, audit reports of all universities should be presented before the State Assembly but this is hardly followed due to varied reasons.
Varsity matters
Odisha has ten state-run universities. Utkal University was the only one to figure in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020 list when it landed the 96th spot. The need for reforms in universities, their academic and administrative systems needs no further validation
As per the amended law, Syndicate will now function as the highest authority of a university instead of the Senate
The State Government to have its own representative instead of a Syndicate representative in the three-member search committee for appointment of a new VC
Academicians suggest the Govt constitute a Higher Education division in the OPSC to study recruitment process