The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : New Central University will be started in State: UGC Secretary

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Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

New Central University will be started in State: UGC Secretary

Special Correspondent

— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

MOMENTOUS OCCASION: Governor and Chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University Surjit Singh Barnala presenting a degree to a student at the convocation of the University in Vellore on Monday.R.K. Chauhan, Secretary, UGC (right) and L. Kannan, Vice-Chancellor (second from left) are in the picture.

VELLORE: The Prime Minister has taken special initiatives to announce the establishment of 16 Central Universities, 14 national universities with international academic standards, and colleges under the 11th 5-year Plan with the objective of increasing the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education to 15 per cent and provide greater access to quality higher education, according to R.K. Chauhan, Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC).

Delivering the Convocation Address at the Fourth Annual Convocation of the Thiruvalluvar University on Monday, Dr. Chauhan said that only 10 per cent of the youth in the age group of 18 to 23 (who are supposed to be pursuing higher education at the undergraduate level) have access to higher education in India, as against the world average of 23 per cent and the developed countries’ average of 40-80 per cent.

An enrolment of 20-25 per cent is necessary for sustainable economic development of the country. One of the new central universities to be started would be in Tamil Nadu. The new universities and colleges would be established on the basis of matching contribution from the concerned state governments, and these institutions would be model institutions with potential for quality and excellence.

The 11th Plan also proposed to increase the number of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), polytechnics and other technical institutions, he added.

The UGC Secretary said that, recognising the fact that quality improvement initiatives in higher education will have to specially focus on ensuring the availability of quality faculty in adequate numbers, the Commission has decided to increase the number of Ph.D. and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the rate of fellowship, as one of the strategies to attract and retain the best persons as faculty members.

The UGC has found that shortage of qualified teachers is one of the problems faced by the higher education system either to non-availability of suitably qualified teachers or due to the ban on recruitment for financial reasons.

Besides, most of the bright candidates are reluctant to join the teaching profession, and those who join it, do so as a last resort. “Improving the quality of teachers is the key to improve the learning outcome in all educational institutions including the higher educational ones,” he said.

Dr. Chauhan said that the students who are better placed academically have other lucrative alternatives today. “Academically bright students opt for professional courses at the first degree level itself, with fewer students move on to post-graduation and doctoral level-a qualification required for academic profession. We should strive to change this situation for better,” he said.

Tamil Nadu Governor and Chancellor of the Thiruvalluvar University, Surjit Singh Barnala presided over the Convocation, distributed the degree certificates, administered the pledge and conferred the degrees on 95 rank-holders in person, and 21,381 candidates in absentia.

He also distributed the endowment prizes to 17 meritorious candidates. The candidates who received their degrees in person and in absentia comprised 12,837 graduates in arts and science, 6671 in B.Ed., 1671 post-graduates in arts and science, 149 in M.Ed., 138 in M.Phil., and 10 in Ph.D.

L. Kannan, Vice-Chancellor of the Thiruvalluvar University who welcomed the gathering in the function held at the Christian Medical College campus, said that the university could not receive any grant from UGC for absence of approval under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act 1956. The university was under the process of obtaining the 12 (B) status. He appealed to the UGC authorities to consider sanction of grants to some extent to the budding State Universities that are yet to get 12 (B) status.

The Vice-Chancellor said that the Tamil Nadu Government has released a sum of Rs.16.70 crore in the first phase for the construction of the new University buildings at Serkadu near Vellore, for which the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi laid the foundation on February 16, 2008.

“All the formalities are over and the construction of the administrative, academic, computer and library blocks would begin within a few days,” he added.

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