Madras varsity panel against budget cuts

Madras varsity panel against budget cuts 

Ragu.Raman@timesofindia.com 22.04.2025

Chennai : The state govt's move to cut the budget for the struggling University of Madras has faced opposition. As many as six members out of 22 in the university's syndicate have written a dissent note against the govt's decision to cut the budget for the university by up to 40% for the 2025-26 financial year. Following the direction from the state govt, the university prepared revised budget estimates for 2025-26, announcing a reduction in the allocation of funds towards various heads. The budget allocation for the university department's stationery and equipment maintenance was reduced by 20%, while funds for the library's books and periodicals were cut by 30%. Maintenance of buildings was cut by 40%, and the allocation towards student facilities, sports, and physical education was reduced by 30%. It also proposed to bring down the number of guest lecturers from 115 to 75 and piece-rate workers from 106 to 75. “It is to be noted that the university's teaching staff strength is 540, against which only 184 staff are available. 

The teacher shortage is as high as 66%, and the vacancy in non-teaching posts is a staggering 964 posts. With this in view, the reductions proposed are inimical to the students’ interests and detrimental to the performance of the university,” the syndicate members said in their dissent note. “We hereby record our dissent to this resolution and request the university to apprise the state govt of the predicament and seek grants to provide the budget estimates for 2025-26 for all budget heads, without any reduction,” they further stated. The university's budget estimates for 2024-25 were ₹150 crore. “Following the Supreme Court's order, we were expecting an increase in the allocation of funds for state universities. 

This cut will severely affect the students and push the university into a deeper financial crisis,” a professor from the university said. Syndicate members also opposed the move to fill the faculty vacancies through the Teachers  Recruitment Board and TN public service commission instead of the university. “This change is an erosion of the university's autonomy. In particular, the recruitment of teaching posts, given the diverse and complex nature of the specialisation involved for each science and arts discipline and the need for assessing teaching and research skills at the postgraduate and doctoral levels, can be appropriately handled only by the University,” the dissent letter further said. Sources in the university said the dissent will be placed before the state govt for consideration