Senior academicians and members of the two UGC committees, which framed the UGC Regulations 2010 and revisited it respectively, were in the dark about the scrapping of qualifications prescribed for appointment of Vice Chancellors.
“I am shocked. We were not aware of this till date. The UGC did not bother to inform the expert committee members of its decision,” a committee member told Express on Thursday.
Clause 7.3.0 of the UGC Regulations 2010 which has been “deleted” by the apex regulatory body for higher education mandated that “persons of the highest level of competence, integrity, morals and institutional commitment are to be appointed as V-Cs. The V-C to be appointed should be a distinguished academician, with a minimum 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 also provided that V-Cs be selected through proper identification of a panel of three to five names by a search committee through a public notification, nomination or a talent search process or in combination.
“The members of the search committee shall be persons of eminence in the sphere of higher education and shall not be connected in any manner with the university concerned or its colleges,” the clause added.
It was reliably learnt that the UGC acted under pressure from several State governments and the private university lobby, which opposed the regulations as it did not provide for having their own nominee on the V-C search panel. The Commission considered the issue regarding inclusion of a representative of the State Government in the Search Panel for the appointment of V-Cs, hence, deleted clause 7.3.0.
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