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| Monday, Sep 15, 2008
University revamps administrative setup
Rotation system for department heads in place
Tiruchi: Bharathidasan University has revamped the administrative setup
in its various departments, putting in place a three-year rotation system for department heads.
University sources said the change, as advocated by the Administrative Reforms Committee
constituted by the State Government, was only meant to formalise the existing three-layer
administrative structure of Deans of Faculties, Chairs of Schools and Heads of Departments.
The Head of the department will be the executive authority while the Chairs of Schools
and Deans will perform coordinating roles. The Dean will be the academic coordinator of the Chairs,
who, in turn, will perform the same role over departments. Though widely prevalent in front-ranking
foreign universities, such a system has so far been in vogue only in top-notch institutions like Indian
Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science in India.
The move has reportedly caused consternation among senior professors who had been
serving has heads of the departments for years. Their contention was that in some instances
faculties holding the post of Readers had been offered headship against norms. Some of the
senior professors who had to cede their headship have been asked to assume responsibilities as Chairs of Schools.
Vice-Chancellor M. Ponnavaikko explained that as per the university statute any professor
could be made Head of Department. Seniority was not a factor. The university, he said,
could go ahead with assigning the task to Readers in some cases with the approval of the Syndicate.
Senior professors had already been sounded of the reform that had been under contemplation over the past
three months and given effect to after the Syndicate approved it in its recent sitting, he said, pointing
out that the proposal came in for appreciation from the high-level Committee of the University
Grants Commission which visited recently to study the university’s requirement for the Eleventh Plan period.
Prof. Ponnavaikko said the there was nothing that prevented those who had ceded their
headships from assuming the post in the next cycle. The post was not that of a boss;
it is only meant for facilitating administration. In fact, the move would help senior
professors to concentrate more on research, he said. The retirement of a department
head after several years of assuming the post must not cause a vacuum, he said.
University sources also said that the point of rotating headship was earlier raised by
the National Assessment and Accreditation Council at the time of accreditation. Re-accreditation
for the university, which was accredited with ‘A’ status, is due in only months from now.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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