Innovation varsities can appoint professors by invitation

Government to introduce Universities for Innovation Bill in the winter session

The 14 upcoming ‘innovation universities’ will have the option of appointing professors by invitation — something that has never happened in any Indian university before.

The provision is part of the draft Universities for Innovation Bill, 2010, under which these institutions can appoint any person of high academic distinction and professional attainment as a professor or an assistant professor by invitation. Similarly, they will be able to appoint any graduate with academic distinction or exceptional talent for research as an assistant professor.

The innovation universities, part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD’s) ‘brain gain’ policy to attract global talent, are to be set up under the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).

“There is a regulation that only 20 per cent professors can be appointed by invitation. But in today’s discussion, stakeholders asked to do away with the rule,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said while discussing the Bill here today.

The minister said consensus was reached among academicians, industry bodies, the private sector, business organisations and the government on five major issues regarding the draft Bill — simultaneous reform of existing institutions while creating new ones, setting up verifiable criteria for research, a legislation to promote facilitators and reduce regulations, setting up solution-based institutions and offering multiple disciplines.

“We are going to rework the first draft and will try hard to introduce the Bill in the winter session. The heart of this Bill is innovation. We want to give the required freedom for innovation and not stifle promoters with regulations like appointing vice-chancellors through collegiums. Rather, we want to allow them as many professorships,” said Sibal.

The 14 innovation universities will specialise in research. Each of these will establish a council that will act as a link with research-funding organisations, industry and civil society. The research councils will provide resources and assistance for projects undertaken by teachers. Some of these universities will be set up in collaboration with promoters, but the surplus money generated will not be distributed among them. It will be spent on the university’s development.

Sibal added there was a whole chapter on intellectual property in the Bill, which was an innovation in itself. The location and areas of specialisation of the varsities are yet to be decided. “The private sector says the proposed legislation is not open enough and we want all the ideas and solutions from entrepreneurs. With this legislation, there will be only 14 nationally-funded innovation universities, but the statute will allow for any number of private institutions,” added Sibal.

The new varsities will have the power to determine the nomenclature of degrees and will establish a Faculty of Knowledge Manpower Assessment to study the trends in emerging fields and assess the requirement of knowledge manpower needs.