Keep politics out of campuses: UGC vice-chairman to students

UGC vice-chairman Bhushan Patwardhan on Wednesday said university campuses should be used for academic purpose, not for any political purpose.

Replying to a question on the ongoing agitations on the university campuses, Patwardhan said the premises should be protected and used only for academic purposes.

The campuses should be used for innovation, research, which can benefit society at large, he said.

"The students, as citizens of the country, are free to do whatever they like outside the campuses, which are their right. They cannot be converted into battlegrounds to settle cores," he said.

Patwardhan was here to inaugurate the 33rd biennial conference on 'trade for futuristic development of home science reserach and innovation'.

He gave details of various initiatives taken by the UGC for the benefit of teachers and the students for better employment opportunities.

The initiatives include a six-month induction programme for teachers, a national academic credit bank for students replacing the current credit-based choice system which would allow students to join in one university, pursue the course in another university and earn a degree from a different university, he said.

Earlier in his address to the conference, Patwardhan urged the Home Science Association of India to put forward their suggestion to shape a curriculum.

The UGC has formulated the syllabus already and after getting feedback from the association, it would finalise the curriculum, he said.

In her address, association president professor Anjali Karolia said there still existed a lot of discrepancies in the degrees offered by various institutions across the country with BA, BSc and even BCom and a lot of disparities in the curriculum of courses offered.

"This definitely is of concern and needs to be addressed," she said.