CHENNAI: UGC vice chairman H Devaraj has accused three former vice chancellors of the University of Madras of merely sitting on UGC grants by parking the funds in banks.
Speaking at a conference organised in the university on Wednesday, Devaraj, a former faculty member, praised the incumbent VC, R Thandavan, for taking steps to appoint faculty for the Centre for Research in Nanosciences and Nanotechnology. Further, he said the vice chancellor had managed to appoint ten faculties so far.
Acknowledging that it was with “great difficulty” that he hired the faculty, Thandavan said,“In my period, I have appointed over 100 faculty members to all departments. It wouldn’t have been possible without help from the syndicate and the vice chairman. I still have one more year left and will appoint more faculty starting with the Departments of Mathematics and Bio-Physics. I have the full support of the Syndicate in this.”
Earlier, Devaraj accused State universities of lacking focus and cited it as the reason for the declining status of University with Potential for Excellence (UPE). “Only UNOM and Madurai Kamaraj University made an excellent presentation and had a clear vision with respect to their focus. Anna University and Bharathidasan University failed here,” he said.
“UGC is willing to give a lot of money. As a result, most universities are now equipped with sufficient infrastructure. Unfortunately, the infrastructure provided has not helped produce good human resources,” he said alluding to the decreasing quality in research.
“Making use of adoptive techniques, embracing crowd sourcing and aiming for academic osmosis ought to be the parameters of research,” he added.
The UGC has invited applicant universities to make a case for themselves in New Delhi on March 5. “UGC is providing Rs 75 crore. When you get that sort of money, expect it to come with a few riders,” he added.
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