Interference in appointments of vice chancellors irks Centre

“Vice-chancellors are appointed at the instance of political establishment. This must end. If we really want our system to thrive, then academic world should be left free to its own devices in the hope that you create a future for the country,” Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal said.

Addressing a conference of Vice Chancellors of various universities here, the HRD minister also pressed for transparency and accountability in the education system and suggested that students should also be allowed to assess teachers.

Universities are required to be more “effervescent, energetic and creative to contribute to the future,” Sibal  said.

“Germination of ideas takes place through the university system. If the university system is not effervescent, energetic, creative, then you would be relegated to the knowledge of the past,” the minister added.

Advocating for a fundamental shift in the higher education system, Sibal envisioned an atmosphere that allows greater student mobility and an academic world that has the freedom to chart its own future.

Mobility to students

“The university system must allow mobility to students. The university system needs to rise up from the current approach of limiting itself to teaching in specific streams such as arts and commerce as also limiting students to availing courses that are available only in
their institution,” he said.

He also underlined the need for bringing uniformity in access to education and said universities “must create a financial, social, economic structure which facilitates access to students”.

Foreign universities

The minister said enormous interest was being expressed by foreign universities in collaborating with Indian universities or setting up their institutions in India.

He underlined that the “general message” he got from foreign institutions was that the large student strength in India were attracting them to come here, especially for undertaking research projects in various subjects.