E-Paper
Panjab University governance reforms: Panel proposes no election for faculty deans’ appointment
Propose that deans of various faculties of PU be appointed by the vice chancellor from among the professors on seniority basis by rotation
The sub-committee constituted by the high-level committee, which has been formed to recommend governance reforms at Panjab University in light of the National Education Policy, has proposed that deans of various faculties of PU be appointed by the vice chancellor (V-C) from among the professors on seniority basis by rotation.
Currently, they are appointed through election, from among the members of each faculty. The recommendations of the sub-committee were accepted by the high-level committee during its last meeting on April 19.
Based on these suggestions, the recommendations of the panel and the comments of the Punjab government, the final report will be prepared by the committee and submitted to the office of the Vice-President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, who is the chancellor of PU.
According to the sub-committee’s proposal, there will be no bifurcation of major and minor faculty. It has also been proposed that the arts faculty be named as humanities and social sciences, faculty of languages as faculty of languages, culture and fine arts and faculty of engineering and technology as design, engineering and technology.
The 11-member panel of experts was constituted by the chancellor in February, after the University Grants Commission (UGC) in November had informed PU to initiate governance reforms, as per provisions mentioned in the PU Act and regulations.
As per a report submitted to the high-level committee, 35 stakeholders sought changes in appointment of faculty of deans and only nine said that the existing system should continue.
According to the proposed composition of faculties, upto five people in each faculty will be nominated by the V-C from among the experts in the respective faculties.
Punjab govt takes up matter
As nominees of the Punjab government to the high-level committee had sought time to take the views of the state government over the proposed changes, mainly regarding the substitution of ‘registered graduate constituency’ and the nominations by the chancellor of the university in senate, state government officials held a meeting last week.
According to sources, the meeting was also attended by a few ex-senators. Sources who attended the meeting said, “During the meeting the constitution of the high-level committee was discussed. The committee has been constituted to look into the feasibility and give recommendations. They are not the final authority. Decisions have to be taken in consultation with the Punjab government.”
