Chandigarh: Syndicate, the key governing body of Panjab University, is mired in “number game” politics of the academic and non-academic groups on the campus. The motto of the groups, comprising university and college faculty, and Fellows, is to win 15 seats in the governing body by hook or by crook.
The supreme governing body, constituted to contribute to improvement of education standards on the campus, has been taken over by groups which appear more interested in pursuing their own agendas.
The fact has been corroborated by a recent report of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council wherein it has been pointed out that the governance structure of the university Act and statute should be revamped by the PU authorities.
There have been examples when non-academic persons, who had no link with the university or colleges affiliated to it, became members of the Syndicate.
Their only qualification was that they were registered as graduates with the university as per the PU calendar. There are a number of faculty members of university and colleges, who have been contesting and winning Syndicate seats for the past 10 years from various departments.
Former president of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) Rajat Sandhir said there was need for changing the norms to curb lobbying and groupism on the campus and ensure that the governing body has a productive output.
Consider the following: Leaders of two prominent groups led by the late GK Chatrath and Ashok Goyal, both of whom were Fellows of the university, were not academics. They contested the Syndicate election and won unopposed eight times from various departments, including law, medical sciences and languages, and went on to influence decisions taken by the Syndicate.
Ashok Goyal refused to comment on the issue.
According to the PU calendar, representation is given in 11 faculties of which five are major and six minor. Elections are held for 15 seats of the Syndicate.
The five major faculties are languages, arts, medical sciences, law and sciences while the six minor faculties are pharmaceutical science, business management and commerce, commerce, education, dairying, animal husbandry and agriculture and design and fine arts. A Fellow of the university who is a Senator can choose two major and two minor faculties to cast his vote in the Syndicate poll.
PUTA president Akshay Kumar said serious business such as drafting education policies by the Syndicate was missing and dominance of non-academic persons was largely to blame for it. The issue of changing norms was raised by the faculty a number of times but so far no proposal had been mooted by the university authorities.
He said the purpose of constituting the Syndicate was to form a core group of experts from various faculties to contribute to quality education.
The supreme governing body, constituted to contribute to improvement of education standards on the campus, has been taken over by groups which appear more interested in pursuing their own agendas.
The fact has been corroborated by a recent report of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council wherein it has been pointed out that the governance structure of the university Act and statute should be revamped by the PU authorities.
There have been examples when non-academic persons, who had no link with the university or colleges affiliated to it, became members of the Syndicate.
Their only qualification was that they were registered as graduates with the university as per the PU calendar. There are a number of faculty members of university and colleges, who have been contesting and winning Syndicate seats for the past 10 years from various departments.
Former president of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) Rajat Sandhir said there was need for changing the norms to curb lobbying and groupism on the campus and ensure that the governing body has a productive output.
Consider the following: Leaders of two prominent groups led by the late GK Chatrath and Ashok Goyal, both of whom were Fellows of the university, were not academics. They contested the Syndicate election and won unopposed eight times from various departments, including law, medical sciences and languages, and went on to influence decisions taken by the Syndicate.
Ashok Goyal refused to comment on the issue.
According to the PU calendar, representation is given in 11 faculties of which five are major and six minor. Elections are held for 15 seats of the Syndicate.
The five major faculties are languages, arts, medical sciences, law and sciences while the six minor faculties are pharmaceutical science, business management and commerce, commerce, education, dairying, animal husbandry and agriculture and design and fine arts. A Fellow of the university who is a Senator can choose two major and two minor faculties to cast his vote in the Syndicate poll.
PUTA president Akshay Kumar said serious business such as drafting education policies by the Syndicate was missing and dominance of non-academic persons was largely to blame for it. The issue of changing norms was raised by the faculty a number of times but so far no proposal had been mooted by the university authorities.
He said the purpose of constituting the Syndicate was to form a core group of experts from various faculties to contribute to quality education.
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