THE GOVERNANCE OF UNIVERSITIES
13.01 Universities in the modern world have a multiplicity of functions, the most important of which are teaching, research, and extension involving direct contact with the community. Their enrolments, staff and budgets are becoming increasingly large and they are required to assume new functions and programmes. The problems of the internal government of universities and other institutions of higher education and of their relationship with the State are, therefore, becoming increasingly important and complex. We devote this chapter to the consideration of some important issues relating to the constitution and organization of universities, the management of university affairs, autonomy, and academic freedom and related matters.
13.02 One preliminary observation may be made. There are some principles of governance (such as the maintenance of a clear chain of responsibility, delegation of functions and authority, insistence on economy and efficiency) which are common to all good organizations. But there are others which depend upon the nature of work and specific purpose of the organization. The character of a university as a society of teachers and students engaged in the pursuit of learning and discovery distinguishes fundamentally the regulation of its affairs from, say, the profit-motivated management of commercial or industrial concerns or the administration of a government department, a municipal corporation, or a unit of the armed forces. Unfortunately, the problems special to university governance have not received adequate attention and universities in our country often tend to rely heavily on governmental rules and practices. What is worse, rules, procedures and techniques once adopted tend to be continued indefinitely in their original form even when changed conditions and circumstances have made them obsolete or incompatible with the real needs and interests of the institutions. Such rigidity seriously retards progress and development. A resolute effort needs to be made to evolve policies, techniques and practices, and a machinery for decision-making needed for a forward-looking and dynamic academic organization. Rules, regulations and techniques that hamper achievement of the real purposes of the university should be modified or scrapped-they should not be allowed to become straight-jackets into which all university activities must be fitted. It would be of real value if in some selected
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universities, groups of interested and knowledgeable persons, academic and administrative, could join hands to study seriously problems of academic government and administration, and suggest ways and means to bring about a radical improvement in the present somewhat chaotic situation. We recommend that the UGC should encourage the formation of such groups. It may also be desirable if, in a few selected universities, certain concerned departments like those of education, science, public administration and law can join hands to study the problems of educational administration and management of university affairs.
UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY 13.03 The Concept of University Autonomy.To begin with,a distinction needs to be made between university autonomy and academic freedom of university and college teachers. This freedom implies that a teacher cannot be ordered or required to teach something which goes against his conscience or conflicts with his conception of truth. in this context, we would also like to emphasize the freedom of teachers to hold and express their views, however radical, within the classroom (and outside) provided they are careful to present the different aspects of a problem without confusing teaching with 'propaganda' in favour of their own particular views. A teacher should be free to pursue and publish his studies and research; and speak and write about and participate in debates on significant national and international issues. He should receive all facilities and encouragement in his work, teaching and research, even when his views and approach be in opposition to those of his seniors and the head of his department or faculty.
13.04 In theory there is no serious restriction or curtailment of academic freedom, but we would like to see teachers practising more of it and vigorously. In fact, it is an inherent obligation of the academic community to play an active and positive role in critical examination, evaluation and evolution of concepts and policies over the entire spectrum of the society's concern and involvement. The universities have a major responsibility towards the promotion and development of an intellectual climate in the country which is conducive to the pursuit of scholarship and excellence, and which encourages criticism, ruthless and unsparing but informal and constructive. All this demands that teachers exercise their academic freedom in good measure, enthusiastically and wisely.
13.05 The proper sphere of university autonomy lies principally in three fields:
- the selection of students;
- the appointment and promotion of teachers;
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- the determination of courses of study, methods of teaching, and the selection of areas and problems of research.
13.06 In the use of its autonomy, the universities will gradually will not only self-respect but the respect of society and government and play their proper role in national life. There is then a likelihood that the universities should be governed by one overriding consideration-their commitment to truth in all fields of activity. This passion for truth must be inculcated in some measure in all their members and there should be some who are wholly dominated by it and find in it their real fulfilment.
13.07 It is important to recognize that the case for autonomy of universities rests on the fundamental consideration that, without it, universities cannot discharge effectively their principal functions of teaching, research and service to the community; and that only an autonomous institution, free from regimentation of ideas and pressure of party or power politics, can pursue truth fearlessly and build up, in its teachers and students, habits of independent thinking and a spirit of enquiry unfettered by the limitations and prejudices of the near and the immediate which is so essential for the development of a free society.
As Bertrand Russell has observed: 'Where independent thinking dies out, whether from lack of courage or absence of discipline, there the evil weeds of propaganda and authoritarianism proliferate unchecked. The stifling of criticism is thus a much more serious thing than many people realise. Far from creating a living unity of purpose in a society, it imposes a kind of insipid, brittle uniformity upon the body politic. It is a pity that men in places of power and responsibility are not more often aware of this.*156
13.08 In considering the question of university autonomy, we must recognize three (somewhat overlapping) levels at which it functions:
(1) autonomy within a university, e.g., autonomy of the departments, colleges, teachers and students in relation to the university as a whole;
(2) autonomy of a university in relation to the university system as a whole, e.g., the autonomy of one university in relation to another, or in relation to the UGC and the Inter-University Board (IUB); and
(3) autonomy of the university system as a whole, including the UGC and the IUB, in relation to agencies and influences emanating outside that system, the most important of which are the Central and the State Governments.
156* Bertrand Russell, Wisdom of the West, Doubleday Garden City, New York, 1959.
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13.09 Autonomy within a University. Before considering the relations between individual universities and of the university system as a whole with external authorities, it would be desirable to discuss briefly the meaning of autonomy within the university itself.
(1) It is recognized that the representation of lay elements on the various governing bodies of the university is necessary and justified in. view of the nature of relationship between the university and the society. It would, however, be contrary to the principle of university autonomy if the lay or non-academic members in these bodies assume a dominating and controlling position. Conventions should be developed which would largely shift the centre of gravity of authority to the academic wing of the university's government. In particular, care should be taken to see that the Academic Council is vested with the final authority in all academic matters. The function of the non-academic element should be mainly to present to the academics the wider interests of the society as a whole, but not to impose them; it should also serve to represent the views and interests of the academics to the wider society and thus make the smooth functioning of the university more easily possible.
(2) It is necessary to ensure that universities do not become administration or administrator dominated and to keep vigilant in this regard. The dominance, if one is to use that word at all, must be of the academic element, and the principal function of the administration is to serve the academic interests of the university.
(3) In the governance of a university, the principle that good ideas often originate at the lower levels of the hierarchy must be recognized and respected. The tendency to attach importance to ideas and proposals merely because they emanate from persons who happen to hold important positions is unhealthy and particularly out of place in a university where they must be judged objectively and on their intrinsic merit. As Sir Eric Ashby has observed: 'This principle of upward flow is vital to the efficient administration of a university and for- the survival of autonomy and self-government .... Not all professors consult their lecturers before decisions are taken as scrupulously as they themselves expect to, be consulted by. the lay.governors in similar circumstances. As faculty boards become larger, there is a temptation for an oligarchy of senior professors to take over the responsibilities of government on behalf of their more junior colleagues. That way danger lies, for any weakening of the principle of self-government within the academic body makes it harder to preserve self-government within the university as a whole and correspondingly harder to maintain the autonomy of the university in the modern democratic state.*157
157* Sir Eric Ashby, Technology and the Academics, St. Marbins, New York, 1958, p. 196.
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(4) The departments of a university are its main operational units on the academic side. We are of the view that wider administrative and financial powers should be delegated to them. Each department should have a Committee of Management under the chairmanship of the head of the department consisting of all professors and some readers and lecturers elected by the staff. it should meet at least once a term to discuss the academic programme of the department, the requirements of laboratories and library, the delegation of duties and related matters, and its proceedings should be circulated to the Faculty and the Academic Council. It will be necessary to provide adequate secretarial assistance to each department for the purpose. In the case of large science departments, it may be advisable to appoint a deputy to the head of the department from amongst the professors or readers. He should be assigned specific functions by the head of the department with the approval of the University Executive Council.
(5) It is essential to recognize the freedom and autonomy of colleges. Our proposals for this will provide, subject to certain conditions and safeguards, greater freedom to colleges and result ultimately in the creation of autonomous institutions. They have been discussed more fully elsewhere.*158
(6) The university should be visualized as an integrated community, in which the teachers are, as it were, 'senior scholars', the students are 'junior scholars' and the administration is a service agency to both. All attempts at polarization between teachers, students or administration should be avoided. We recommend the establishment of joint committees of teachers and students in each department and in every college to serve as a forum for the discussion and, where possible, for the solution of common problems and difficulties. The head of the institution-the vice-chancellor or principal-should be kept fully in touch with the work of the committees. In addition, there should be a central committee for the purpose under the chairmanship of the head of the institution consisting of some representatives of staff and students. A machinery of this type, if properly worked, would at least be able to find an adequate solution to the large number of small, easily remediable problems which, for want of due attention at the proper moment, often simmer into bitterness and later engender serious breaches of discipline. It will also, we hope, create better relations and develop a new sense of confidence between the teachers and the students.
(7) As one positive step to encourage students to take Part in university government and to make them realize their responsibilities in the day-to-day functioning of the university, we recommend that representatives of the student community (including undergraduate students) 158*Chapter XI.
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should be associated with the Academic Councils and the Courts of the universities. In some universities in Europe and elsewhere, students are members of the Executive Council also.
13.10 Autonomy within the University System. It is implicit in the concept of autonomy, and desirable even otherwise, that every university should be entitled automatically to the membership of the IUB. The degrees conferred by a university should also be automatically ' recognized' by every other university in the country.*159 Further, a certain measure of division of labour among universities is necessary, and this applies more to some fields of study than others. In specialized areas like Chinese studies or nuclear physics or oceanography or astrophysics, where equipment is very expensive or qualified manpower scarce, the autonomy of each university to teach and to do research is naturally not absolute and must be modified in favour of some reasonable cooperative arrangement amongst them. The universities can initiate such division of labour, which is the only sensible way of dealing with the phenomenal increase in knowledge and specialization, either on their own or in consultation with the UGC, where necessary.
13.11 Autonomy in Relation to Outside Agencies. While universities must have this autonomy, it should be interpreted in the larger context of their obligation and responsibility to the nation and to mankind as a whole. For instance, the national needs for trained manpower have implications for the teaching functions of the universities; and similarly decisions about research which, in a way, must be taken primarily by the universities, cannot be taken in isolation from the economic and social needs of the country which must influence them in a large measure. Such decisions are national decisions in which the competing claims of different sectors of the society must be weighed against one another and in which long-range programmes must be balanced against immediate needs. It is apparent that the conduct of university affairs cannot be left solely to the academies; their relationship to social needs requires the admission of non-academic persons within the machinery of their government. The universities have thus to share their decisions with lay agencies or authorities outside the system just as they have to share them with one another or with organizations within the university system itself such as the University Grants Commission and the Inter-University Board. It is particularly in such problems that issues of university autonomy have to be handled with great skill and imagination and it becomes necessary to develop attitudes and conventions
159* See paragraphs 13.64 and 13.65 supra for details.
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which will do justice to university autonomy as well as to the valid claims of society
13.12 We give below some illustrations of the manner in which problems of this type can be handled.
(1) The admission of students is obviously an important aspect of university autonomy. But in the larger interests of society, regulations have to be framed for reserving some seats for under- developed social groups such as the scheduled tribes or the scheduled castes. Even in such cases, however, the discretion of the universities to judge the merits of the individual students should not be fettered; they should be able to select the best students from among the applicants within the underprivileged groups and, if necessary, to refuse admission. in some cases, a cooperative machinery for admissions has to be set up for a number of educational institutions, including those conducted by universities, e.g., in technical colleges where admissions are normally made on a selective basis. The participation of universities in such an arrangement for educational and administrative reasons is justified and cannot be regarded as an infringement of autonomy.
(2) Important problems of coordination arise with regard to national needs for trained manpower. We have recommended earlier *160 that estimates of manpower needs with regard to trained graduates in different fields such as agriculture, engineering, medicine, or teaching, should be prepared and the total output of the universities in the various faculties planned accordingly. This will necessarily imply that the development policies of the universities should be adequately coordinated to meet all the national requirements for trained manpower and steps should be taken to see that, so far as it is predictable, there is no over-production or shortfall in any sector. The decisions in such matters will, however, have to be joint decisions taken after adequate consultation. Since, in the last analysis, the implementation of these plans will be in the hands of the universities, Government must be persuasive and not lay down the law.
(3) Similar problems arise also with regard to research. When it is decided that the economic needs of the society require applied research on particular problems-decisions which must be made, in large part, outside the university-the universities must share the responsibility for it to some extent at least. They have, however, the right to insist that adequate resources for the purposes be provided so that standards of research are not compromised by following any short-sighted policies.
13.13 In matters relating to the national needs for trained manpower and research, an individual university should have the freedom to 160* Chapter V.
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