The Hindu : New Delhi News : Appointments remain a messy affair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Appointments remain a messy affair

APPOINTMENTS HAVE always been a sticky issue on the campus. From the demand for more permanent posts to equal parity for ad hoc teachers in terms of perks to politics in appointments, the list of complaints and reservations can be rather long when it comes to the Capital's universities.

But if a recent notice from the University Grants Commission (UGC) is anything to go by, then quite a few appointments are actually caught in the net. Taking a strong note of the fact that universities and colleges are following the practice of first appointing candidates who don't qualify on the basis of UGC Regulations and then sending their proposals for exemption, the Commission has sent out an order stating that no appointments will be made until a clearance or relaxation is received from the UGC.

Interestingly enough, although the decision was taken by the Commission in August, most colleges said they were unaware of any such notice. The meeting had the UGC consider and approve the general criteria formulated by the Exemption Committee for giving exemption from NET, the National Eligibility Test for teachers. It also decided to consider individual cases for exemption provided no NET examination had been held in the specified subject, NET/SLET qualified or exempted candidates were not available when interviews were held or in case of special circumstances like when a candidate is compulsorily required to clear the NET within a period of two years from the date of issue of communication of exemption by UGC.

The Commission had, in fact, in a circular issued on July 17, stated that "No person shall be appointed to a teaching post in University (or) in any of the institutions including constituent or affiliated Colleges recognized under Clause (f) of the Section 2 of UGC Act, 1956 (or) in an institution deemed to be University under Section 3 of the said Act in a subject if she/he does not fulfil the requirements as to the qualifications for the appropriate subjects as prescribed by the Commission".

While advising all State Governments/universities/colleges against making appointments till a clearance is received, the UGC has asked the universities to send the proposal immediately after the selection of the candidates along with a sound justification for relaxation/exemption as per UGC norms in a particular subject in which NET/SLET is not being conducted or sufficient number of candidates are not available with NET/SLET qualifications for a specified period only.

With the last couple of months dominated by selection committee meetings, appointments have been the order of the day. But with the notice not even finding its way to most colleges, one wonders how the UGC actually hopes to bring in more order into appointments.

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AS STUDENTS of India's top B-Schools they are trained to be good leaders. But Surabhi Loshali probably has reason to feel special. A student of XLRI Jamshedpur, she will be representing India at the International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague this January.

Being organised by Civic Concepts International, the conference will act as a platform for representatives of various countries to test their international leadership skills in real-world simulations of global organizations.

With students from over 70 countries participating, the six-day schedule will have participants focus on issues of politics, international relations and global leadership among others.

Some of the highlights of the conference include a United Nations Security Council Crisis Simulation, International Law Day Briefing, International Media Panel Discussion and International Criminal Court Simulation.

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IT MAY be one of the fastest growing sectors in India, but real estate is yet to see trained professionals manage the expanding sector. Now all set to prepare students for an advanced career in the sectors of real estate, property management and services management is the Institute of Finance and International Management (IFIM) which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the CASS Graduate School of International Management, Belgium, to offer an MBA programme in real estate management. Graduates in any stream can apply for the course which has been kept part-time keeping in mind working professionals in the real estate industry.

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THE DELHI University Vice-Chancellor, Deepak Nayyar, has added yet another feather to his cap by being elected as Vice-President of the International Association of Universities. Based at UNESCO in Paris, the Association was established in 1950 and is the premier association for universities across the world.

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

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