Required: An overhaul

State Universities in Karnataka need more facilitation and less control; rid them of poor leadership and governance

Universities are at the top of educational pyramids and are conceived to be harbingers of higher learning, scholarship and research. Unlike local and regional institutions, they are supposed to be reservoirs of multinational, multi-disciplinary, multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic mosaic to promote a quest for advanced knowledge and a thirst for creative learning.

The founders of universities, be they private trusts/individuals or public sectors like the central and state governments, do not become their ‘owners’ because of the autonomous nature of these portals of higher education. In fact, autonomy is the hallmark of universities in democratic countries across the globe.

Some of the world’s top universities (as evaluated by international and independent ranking agencies of high credibility) such as Harvard and Stanford in the US and Oxford and Cambridge in the UK embrace the twin ethos of ‘self-reliance’ and ‘self-governance’ in letter and spirit. In essence, they are free from any kind of external regulations and bureaucratic controls. They have put in place a time-tested and built-in framework to draw the roadmap of their short and long-term academic pursuits.

It is learnt that the BJP government of Karnataka is mulling the idea of ‘uniform’ or ‘model’ curricula for all state universities. In biological parlance, this purports to cloning, that is, producing genetically identical organisms. Previously, the Congress government in the state made unwarranted, albeit unsuccessful, attempts to appoint teaching faculty and construct large buildings (costing more than Rs 1 crore) by itself.

The move was not only absurd but was also in contravention of the norms of the University Grants Commission, the apex body that regulates higher education in the country. It is felt that instead of resorting to controls as ‘aberrations’, the government of the day would do well by being a facilitator of quality and innovation. A few areas where it can play a positive role to enable and empower universities are briefly discussed here.

Strengthening infrastructure: Almost all state universities suffer from lack of the state-of-the-art facilities for curricular as well as co-curricular activities. Even the old universities have not been able to get rid of obsolescence for being short of funds. It is suggested that the government should set apart 20-25% of the total allocation as ‘development grants’. These shall be in addition to the sanction of ‘block grants’ which take care of only the salary, allowances and pension of employees besides administrative expenses.

The envisaged development grants could be channelised through project modes, fixing priority to the needs of new universities. Of course, an expert committee should decide the merit of such proposals. With low fee structure and dearth of income from other sources, universities have been lackadaisical in their growth pathways. Current knowledge systems need modern infrastructure (for example, Information & Communication Technology) for efficient translation.

Appointment of faculty: There exists 40-45% vacancies in teaching positions across state universities. All of them have a major chunk of ‘guest lecturers’. Whereas this raw and inexperienced category of teachers can do some ordinary classroom teaching as a ritual, they cannot undertake any research nor can they be effective in online instructions. It is indisputable that the eminence and prominence of any university is largely dependent on its qualified, capable and talented faculty. If our universities are not doing well either in national or international rankings, one of the prime reasons is the lack of competent and committed faculty.

Coveted universities around the world make concerted efforts to bring in the best students and faculty wherever they are from, with several incentives. Vibrant teaching and innovative research can only be executed by a team of excellent faculty. Mediocrity will replace meritocracy if incompetent persons get into the university system. It is therefore the bounden responsibility of the government to ensure that all sanctioned posts of faculty are filled forthwith by the established mode of appointment following the norms of merit-cum-reservation.

Financial crunch, often decried, should not cause irreparable damage to academic endeavors. As an innovative step, freshly appointed assistant professors must be encouraged to initiate basic research through a ‘seed money’ by way of minor research proposals. This move will enable the young faculty to secure major grants from central funding agencies later on.

Restoration of Autonomy: Universities are governed by certain provisions of their Acts and have statutory bodies such as Board of Studies, Faculties, Academic Council and the Syndicate apart from Finance and other committees and offices. Put together, these organs have the responsibilities of formulating and implementing their academic and developmental requisites.

Hence, any attempt to impose curricula and regulations from external sources amounts to abrogation of their autonomy and undesirable interference in their functioning. Instead, the state should strengthen their autonomy for determining the pace and diverse nature of their teaching and research programmes.

In other words, the government should be a wary watchdog of performance rather than being a remote controller of dos and don’ts. It must be emphasised that if there is a common and single striking feature of world-renowned universities, it is their absolute functional autonomy.

Amendment to KSU Act 2000: It is nearly two decades since the Karnataka State Universities Act (KSU Act) was enacted. Like other streams, higher education in recent times has witnessed phenomenal transformation in terms of concepts, scope, cost, diversity, relevance, delivery etc, because of increased globalisation, private participation and technological intervention. One of the major deficiencies in our university set up is the poor leadership and governance.

The so-called Syndicate is no more a ‘think tank’ and has often been detrimental to rather than instrumental in progress. The Vice Chancellors are sandwiched between the Syndicate and the bureaucratic controls. It is a misfortune that a good number of Syndicate members are nominees of the government and governor and are dubious ‘psuedo-educationists’. Therefore, there is an urgent need to amend the KSU Act 2000 in order to enable universities surmount the emerging challenges with more power and vigour. Let there be facilitation first and controls next.

(The writer is former Vice Chancellor, University of Mysore)