Former University of Madras Vice-Chancellor Thiruvassagam has written to Chief Minister Vijay, urging the Tamil Nadu government to revive the higher education sector by appointing vice-chancellors and implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
In his letter, he said that despite having a strong higher education infrastructure, the state’s university standards have declined sharply. He pointed out that 17 universities in Tamil Nadu are currently functioning without vice-chancellors, and argued that the absence of leadership has affected their growth.
Referring to the ongoing deadlock over vice-chancellor appointments, he noted that the Governor has not approved the state-appointed selection committees, citing the need to include a University Grants Commission (UGC) nominee. He suggested that the issue could be resolved by revising the committees to include the UGC member, while ensuring that only experienced, honest senior academicians—rather than IAS officers—are appointed to the panels.
He also called for greater transparency in the selection process by publishing the evaluation scores and reasons on university websites. To reduce political and government interference in faculty recruitment, he proposed creating a Tamil Nadu Higher Education Recruitment Board through legislation in the upcoming Assembly session.
On NEP 2020, Thiruvassagam said Tamil Nadu has rejected the policy citing various reasons, and warned that universities that do not adopt it have fallen behind in NIRF and NAAC performance. He urged universities to accept NEP 2020, with suitable modifications aligned to the state’s education system, and said this would help secure central higher education funds without hurdles and strengthen the finances of resource-starved universities.
