The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Trifurcation of Bangalore varsity must be apolitical: VC

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Friday, Aug 15, 2008
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Trifurcation of Bangalore varsity must be apolitical: VC

Staff Reporter

‘University suffering from an identity crisis’
Government urged to allow varsity to fill vacancies

Bangalore: “All universities have problems. However, the problems in Bangalore University get magnified owing to the huge number of affiliated colleges and students,” said Vice-Chancellor H.A. Ranganath.

He was speaking at the round table discussion on “Bangalore University — problems and solutions” organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), here on Wednesday.

Prof. Ranganath said that Bangalore University was suffering from an “identity crisis.” “The university is an island surrounded by excellent institutions. We must create and improve academic ambience, physical ambience and teaching to empower our students to compete with those in the other institutions,” he said.

The State universities are totally neglected, he maintained. He added that the university should not be divided only because of increasing administrative problems. “Whenever universities are divided, the courses are replicated. We need to create monofaculty universities. Every university should have a novel course. Inter-university movement should also be facilitated for universities that offer novel courses,” he said.

Prof. Ranganath said that the division should be apolitical and not at the cost of rural students. “We must ensure that the mistakes committed during the formation of Tumkur University are not repeated. We should not create another illegitimate child. The Government should provide all facilities before it goes ahead with the division of the university,” he said.

About the relationship of deemed universities and autonomous colleges with the university, he said that there should be some parameter in place. “If all the good institutions apply for deemed university status or autonomous status, then the bad performers will be left with the parent university. This way, the parent university will suffer,” he said.

Prof. Ranganath maintained that the service conditions of teachers was a very important in ensuring quality education. Based on a request made by the Bangalore University College Teachers’ Association, he agreed to press the Government to ensure that the unaided colleges pay their teachers on par with the minimum pay prescribed by the State.

He also urged the Government to allow the university to fill the vacancies. “However, permission to recruit is usually given with a rider that all the costs should be borne by the university. This will not do. The university will not be able to do it on its own,” he said.

Prof. Ranganth said that the basic philosophy with which the semester system was introduced has been lost. “We have just divided the annual system into two semesters. Since the spirit is not followed, the whole purpose of its introduction is defeated. I have already forwarded this issue to the Inter-University Board for discussion. The semester system must be revisited and be made effective without sacrificing extra-curricular activities,” he said.

“It is our failure that the internal assessment system has not worked. Teachers have to be academic parents to their students,” he added.

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