 AUTHORITIES OF THE UNIVERSITY

General

It has already been stated that under the existing conventional patterns, universities have several authorities and that of these the three principal ones are :

(1) The Court or the Senate

(2) The Executive Council or the Syndicate and

(3) The Academic Council.

The older pattern did not include the Academic Council, particularly at the stage when the University's main responsibility consisted largely of examining and very little of teaching. It is necessary clearly to demarcate the functions of these bodies, each having specified authority as confusion can arise by each body trying to advise the other with regard to its functions. At one time when there was no academic council it was usual to describe the Court as the supreme governing body. But in some of the newer Acts, this has been advisedly omitted. In general, the Court is intended to bring into the university the lay element and this has the advantage of bringing the university into contact with eminent men in public life, in industry and trade, and those who provide finances for it. The 'lay representative' in the court (and any other authority) can render great service to the university by their greater knowledge of the world and their ability to represent the general desires and aspirations of society. The committee recommends that in general the authority to be given to the Court should be firstly for framing the budget, as it would be necessary to have a larger body than the Executive Council to take responsibility for this. Secondly the Court should have the authority to indicate broadly what courses a university should have. Thirdly, the Court should review the work of the university as presented in the Annual Report, and act generally as a consultative body. The Court should have no power to interfere with the decisions of other authorities acting within the powers given to them by law; the Court is not to be regarded as a superior body to revise the decisions of the Executive Council or the Academic Council. Legislation by the Executive Council or by the Academic Council need not require confirmation by the Court. It should operate as a body concerned with general policy and the wellbeing of the university.

The Executive Council is the executive body of the university; it should be compact, and consisting about one-half academic and one half non-academic members. The responsibility for appointing teachers and

other employees of the universities would be that of the Executive Council. Raising funds and fixing fees and conducting examinations come within the province of the Executive Council these should not go to the court.

The Academic Council, as its name indicates, should be composed almost entirely of academic people and should be responsible for determining the contents of the courses of study, and the standards of examinations. It is this power of the Academic Council that requires to be carefully safeguarded. It is this freedom that indicates the measure of the autonomy of the university. No one from outside should be in a position to indictate to a university what its standards should be or what the contents of its courses should be, apart from the University Grants Commission acting within its statutory powers.

The Faculties and Boards of Studies function as subsidiaries of the Academic Council; and the Selection Committee and the Finance Committee are mainly for advising the Executive Council. A statement describing what are usually termed the powers of a university is given in the appendix to this report.

The Court or the Senate

On the understanding that the Court is the general policy-making body with a lay element and not concerned with the details of academic matters or the day-today administration of the University, the following composition is suggested:

It should consist of not more than 100 members of whom about half should be external ones.

COMPOSITION

(1) Official members

(a) Ex-Officio members Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, etc. 10 (b) Representatives of University 40 Departments and Colleges.

(2) Other Members

(a) Representatives of Registered Graduates, not more than (To be elected by an Alumni Association to be constituted by Statutes) -5

(b) Representatives of donors, if any, not more than -5

(d) Nominees of the Executive Council from outside the University -5 (e) Nominees of the Visitor -10 (f) Members co-opted by the Court -10

It is felt that Parliament or State Legislatures or other local bodies need not be separately represented, but members of these bodies may be nominated by the Visitor in their personal capacity. Where it is not possible for all the Heads of Departments and of colleges to come into the Court, it will be necessary to arrange for their coming in by rotation to avoid election among themselves. In the case of members nominated by the Visitor or co-opted by the Court, the period of such co-option or nomination may be shorter than that of those representing the different bodies. By having a shorter term, it will be possible to associate a larger number of people with the Court and give wider opportunity for those who come in by rotation.

The Vice-Chancellor should be Chairman of the Court. On cere- monial occasions such as convocations the Chancellor would preside, if present.

The Executive Council or the Syndicate

7. The Executive Council or the Syndicate should consist of about 15 to 20 members, about half being internal and half external. The ViceChancellor should be its chairman. It has been suggested that there should be a limit to the number of terms for which a member can consecutively sit on the Council. The committee finds that a hard and fast rule about limiting the number of consecutive terms may not always be possible, or even desirable. The Vice-Chancellor should preside over meetings of the Executive Council. The committee suggests broadly the following composition for the Executive Council (the details will depend to some extent on the type of the university)

Vice-Chancellor .. 1 Pro-Vice-Chancellor or Rector of University. .. 1 Deans (who should be full-time teachers) of Faculties. 4 Principals of Colleges. .. 4 Persons elected by the Court from amongst its members. 3 Persons nominated by the Visitor (which may include Government representatives). .. 4

It may be an advantage to have on the Council two Professors, other than Deans, and also one or two persons nominated by the Chancellor.

Note: The appointment of the Deans as also of Professors on the Executive Council may be either through rotation-or partly through rotation and partly through nomination by the Visitor on the recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor.

We feel that for the efficient working of a university and specially for dealing with cases of dicipline, the Vice-Chancellor should have adequate powers vested in him or delegated to him by the Executive Council. It is important that the Act should contain a provision for the delegation of power to the Vice-Chancellor.

The Academic Council

The Academic Council represents in one way the core of the university, that is to say, the body which determines what admission qualifications are needed, what courses the students should undergo, what tests they should satisfy and what degrees they should get, and, in general, in what manner the main purpose of education can be secured. This body therefore should remain sovereign in its field. Its decisions except for financial reasons should not be subject to modification or approval by any one else. If it makes a mistake and lowers the standards of the university it assumes the responsibility for the poor estimate in which the degrees of that university will be held. The Vice-Chancellor should be the chairman of the Academic Council. It is unnecessary to fix a definite maximum number for the academic council. The size will vary in accordance with the number of departments and Faculties in the university as well as the number of colleges; as a rule of thumb 60 may be a good number for unitary and federal types of universities and a slightly larger number for affiliating ones. The following composition is suggested:

(a) Deans of Faculties (b) Heads of Departments (c) Principals of Colleges (d) Teachers other than heads of departments or Principals of colleges, to represent adequately different subjects. These may be co-opted by the Academic Council for one year at a time

(e) Persons from outside the university with specialised knowledge, co-opted by the Academic Council.

In this case also, where internal members have to be chosen, election may be avoided as far as possible and the right to sit may be given by rotation according to seniority or some other principle.

Faculties and Boards of Studies

The main function of a Faculty is to coordinate the work of the Boards of Studies and to ensure that comparable standards are maintained by the different departments. The Faculties as well as the Academic Council should help in breaking the rigid compartmentalisation of "subjects" of study and research and make possible cooperative activity among the various disciplines. It is difficult to define in exact terms the

relationship that should exist between the Academic Council, the Faculties , and the Boards of Studies. There may be some overlap in their functions. Each university will have to spell out these functions in accordance with its own needs and traditions. The Boards of Studies deal with individual departments of knowledge. The practice in general has been for the University Head of the Department to be ex-officio Chairman of the Board of Studies. Its composition generally include some university teachers, some senior teachers from affiliated colleges and one or two teachers from other universities. In some universities it has been found desirable to have two Boards of Studies, one for undergraduate courses and the other for postgraduate courses. In view of the considerable overlap of problems concerning undergraduate and postgraduate studies, the committee is not in favour of two separate Boards of Studies. The committee feels that Boards of Studies should meet more often than is generally the case so that adequate attention can be paid to improvement and modernization of courses at all levels, including undergraduate studies. A Board of Studies should normally include one or two outstanding teachers from other universities.

One of the important functions, besides that of preparing courses of studies, that the Board of Studies performs is the recommending of textbooks and names of persons suitable for being examiners. In this activity, some safeguards may be necessary and each university may consider evolving some system of inter university consultations, and preparing a panel of' suitable persons.

Selection Committee

The standard and quality of work of a university depends very largely on the quality of its teachers. It is most important that every care is exercised by the authorities concerned so that teachers of the highest competency are recruited by the universities. Also the conditions of service and opportunities for professional advancement should be such as would attract and retain in the service of the universities men of outstanding ability. The power to appoint teachers must be vested in the Executive Council, but all the teaching appointments should be made by the Executive Council only on the recommendation of a properly constituted Selection Committee. The Selection Committee should consist, besides the Vice-Chancellor and the Head of the Department concerned, of a certain number of experts. This number may vary in accordance with the category of teachers to be appointed. For a Professor, it should be necessary to have two or even three outside experts. In the case of lecturers, a smaller number may be adequate. Great care should be taken in choosing the

experts. It may be an advantage to have one nominee of the Chancellor/ Visitor on the Selection Committee. The Court or the Academic Council should not elect a representative to the Selection Committee. It should be a clear rule that the Executive Council should accept the selection unanimously recommended by the Selection Committee. In rare cases, if for good reasons the Executive Council is unable to accept the recommendation of the Selection Committee, efforts for a better selection may be renewed in the following year. A great ideal of what is described as university politics or interference of outside politics in universities arises in connection with appointments. Universities must have the freedom to make their own appointments; but they must be steadfast in their desire to make right appointments.

Finance Committee

As already stated, the Treasurer or Finance officer should be an officer of the university subject to the authority of the Executive Council. In the same way the Finance Committee should be a sub- committee of the Executive Council. Presumably to protect the financial interests of the universities, the constitution of some universities provide for an elected Treasurer and an elected Finance Committee. While it is necessary to provide safeguards against wastage and to secure careful conservation of the university's finances, it is not useful to have an independent Treasurer and Finance Committee. If the Executive Council does not have the time to look carefully into all matters where finance is involved, it should appoint a sub-committee of its own to be a Finance Committee. The University Act may provide that such a Finance Committee should include any particular ex-officio member of the Executive Council representing Government, whose knowledge of financial matters would be of use to the committee. Provision may be made for adequate control of the financial transactions of the university, in addition to the usual financial rules, budgetary rules, audit and other safeguards.

Most University Acts have a provision for audit of the accounts of the university by the Comptroller and Auditor-General or Accountant-General or the Examiner of Local Fund Accounts; the audit report along with any resolution passed by the Court is sent on to the Government concerned. This gives Government full opportunity to satisfy itself that the university is spending its money for the purpose for which it ought to be spent and that a proper finance and accounting procedure is followed. The Government may also obtain from the university such additional information as it wants.

It was recently suggested that these accounts and audit reports should be placed before Parliament/State Legislatures and their Public Accounts Committees. The committee is of the view that it is not desirable to do so. In this matter and in other related matters some measure of self-denial is needed, as the autonomy of universities and their standards and internal discipline are still in a delicate stage of growth and development and it will rake time for the establishment of sound traditions and conventions.