Less than a year after it quietly abolished minimum qualifications for Vice Chancellor aspirants, attracting flak from senior academicians, the University Grants Commission has finally restored credibility to the selection process of top administrators of universities.
The apex regulatory body has introduced a second amendment to UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations 2013, prescribing qualifications for Vice Chancellors. The amendment has come into force with immediate effect.
The reintroduced Clause 7.3.0 of the UGC Regulations mandates that persons of the highest level of competence, integrity, morals and institutional commitment are appointed as Vice Chancellors. “The Vice Chancellor to be appointed should be a distinguished academician, with a minimum of 10 years of experience as Professor in a University system or 10 years of experience in an equivalent position in a reputed research and/or academic administrative organisation,” it says.
Besides, Vice Chancellors must be selected through proper identification of a panel of three to five names by a search committee through a public notification or nomination or a talent search process or in combination.
The search committee must comprise only persons of eminence in the sphere of higher education who are not connected in any manner with the university concerned or its colleges.