Soon JNU may have 3-4 teachers per student: HC on varsity's norms for MPhil, PhD courses

The JNU may soon achieve the "unique" status of a university having 3-4 teachers for every student for the manner in which it has "tightened" the norms for admission to MPhil and PhD courses, the Delhi High Court observed today.

Referring to Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) submission that it got 399 students for its MPhil and PhD courses last year when its faculty strength was over 500 teachers, a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and A K Chawla said there were almost two teachers for every student and questioned the logic behind such intake.

"You have tightened your norms, so the intake has dried up. At this rate, JNU is going to be a unique university where there would be three to four teachers for every one student. It is almost two teachers for one student now. What kind of logic is this? There is something wrong," the court said.

Under the new admission norms, there is a cap on the number of students per research supervisor for MPhil and PhD courses. The slash in the seats because of a UGC regulation had led to a series of agitations in the varsity by the students.

JNU's lawyer, central government standing counsel Monika Arora, told the bench that the teachers often go on sabbatical or were working on their books or articles and therefore, they do not accept more students. She also said that in some years there was no demand for certain subjects.

Disagreeing with her contentions, the court said "on one hand you don't want to spend on students, but you are willing to spend on teachers who are willing to live off the fat of the land. Let them go, if they are not going to work."