Call for urgent meeting in JU to discuss UGC draft guidelines

The Jadavpur University unit of All Bengal University Teachers Association (ABUTA) today called an urgent meeting of the executive council and other stakeholders in view of the recent UGC draft regulations for grant of graded autonomy.
"We demand a joint meeting be convened very soon by the executive council with all teacher associations and other stakeholders to review the Draft UGC (Categorization of Universities for Grant of Graded Autonomy) Regulations, 2017 for which comments have recently been sought by the UGC," Convenor of ABUTA in JU, Gautam Maity told PTI.
Seconding him, a senior member of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) said "In the name of granting graded autonomy the UGC may be curbing the autonomy and academic freedom of the universities. We need to be on guard."

"The JUTA executive is giving feedback to the executive committee so that the university take a consensus decision expressing its opinion about draft UGC regulations by June," a JUTA member said.
The proposed meeting will also discuss academic problems faced by the university due to implementation of the UGC (minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in universities and colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards in higher education) (4th amendment), Regulations, 2016, and UGC (minimum standards and procedure for award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degrees) Regulations, 2016," Maity said.
Vice-chancellor Prof Suranjan Das was not available for comments on the issue.

A senior UGC member during his visit to the city last month had commented "We are in favour of working autonomy for universities to ensure the quality of education....Changes in UGC, NAAC are all for the good.