CHENNAI: The Raj Bhavan on Wednesday strongly denounced what it termed “scandalous” media reports linking the upcoming annual conference of vice-chancellors in the State with the recent Supreme Court judgment, dismissing the connection as baseless and politically motivated.
A statement from the Raj Bhavan said, “These reports are scandalous and far from the truth.” It further clarified that the conference was a well-planned academic exercise aimed at improving the quality of higher education and had nothing to do with any political tussle.
“Preparations for each year’s conference begin several months in advance. Meetings with the vice-chancellors and eminent experts from academia and industry are held to design the structure of the conference, select topics and themes for deliberation, and identify the eminent resource persons across the country who are then approached well in advance to ensure their participation. This year too, preparations for the conference began in January itself. Several meetings were held to make it more productive,” the Raj Bhavan pointed out.
“It is unfortunate that some ill-informed media reports have given this well-intentioned academic exercise, aimed at achieving excellence in teaching, learning, innovation and enterprise, a political twist, wrongly linking it with the recent court judgment and trying to project it as a power struggle between the Raj Bhavan and the State government,” it added.
The statement also highlighted how past isolation among institutions was detrimental to student growth: “Earlier, our institutions, especially the State universities—never interacted with each other and functioned largely in their respective silos, to the disadvantage of our students and the growth of our institutions.”
The Raj Bhavan further noted that these annual conferences of higher education leaders have been carefully planned and held in April each year since 2022. “They are organised by the Governor and attended by eminent leaders of academia and industry from Tamil Nadu and across the country who share their ideas and experiences with our higher educational institutions.”