Towards a more democratic and broad- based future

For too long now the running of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) has been, rightly or wrongly, vested in a small group, which generated an impression that it was not accountable to the stakeholders of the varsity.

That being the case, the decision of the government to ask the Governor to promulgate an ordinance to revamp the way the KTU is run has been widely welcomed by academia and even by those at the helm of affairs of the KTU.

The government’s decision, it is widely believed, would make the functioning of the KTU more democratic and broad-based and would enable a bottom-up mode of decision making.

It would pave the way for more transparency in the KTU to which all engineering colleges in Kerala are affiliated. The setting up of a syndicate and a senate, an academic council (or its equivalent), a finance committee, boards of study and so on would ensure that the students, employees and teachers get their say in the running of the university.

A case in point in the protracted student agitation against the online mode of conducting examinations. The KTU had outsourced the development of the software for the conduct of the examination to a private firm based in Technopark.

Even after the handover of the finished software to the varsity, the officials of this company held on to the “root password” for the system, which meant that they had unfettered access to the system which top officials of the varsity claimed was foolproof.

Had there been a syndicate or senate, the outsourcing may not have been done in the first place. Moreover, the trust deficit shown by the students may have been mitigated to a large extent. Now, the impression that was created was that a small group led by Vice Chancellor Kuncheria P. Isaac was calling the shots without adequate homework or foresight.

Member of the KTU’s executive council — equivalent of the syndicate — Radhakrishna G. Pillai told The Hindu that he welcomed the government’s decision.

“The presence of eminent persons in the Board of Governors ensured that the KTU received the benefit of their academic excellence. However, the KTU did not have any social commitment. The students and the employees did not have any voice in the management of the varsity,” he said.

Sreekumar, Dean of Academic Affairs of the KTU, was of the opinion that the formation of a syndicate, senate and academic bodies would augur well for the KTU.

Educationist R.V.G. Menon, while welcoming the government decision, pointed out that care must be taken to ensure that the right kind of persons get elected or nominated to the various bodies of the KTU. “Syndicates and senates of other universities don’t exactly inspire confidence in us. The KTU should not end up being just another varsity,” he added.