Coimbatore: The syndicate of the Bharathiar University has decided to challenge the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) circular that universities with a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) cumulative grade point average (CGPA) under 3.26 cannot run distance education courses. The syndicate meeting of the university was held on Monday, headed by the secretary of higher education and the head of the university's convener committee Sunil Paliwal.
A source from the university syndicate said Bharathiar University, which has been ranked the top arts and science university in the state, is being asked not to conduct distance education based on mere NAAC score. “This was already discussed in the meeting held in Chennai on June 11. The UGC’s circular was given suddenly without prior intimation,” the source said and added that the university would challenge the circular in the Madras high court.
The university, which has NAAC score of only 3.11, had already written to the UGC seeking to relax the norms and allow state universities with a NAAC score of above 3 to conduct distance education programmes.
Meanwhile, the university had called for expression of interest from private colleges to act as learner support centres (LSC) for its distance education courses. Monday was the last day for the colleges to express interest. “Around 20 colleges had expressed interest to act as LSCs,” said the source.
As the constituent colleges under the university have been converted to government colleges, the 21 teaching staff members of the university who work in these colleges would continue working there in deputation, the source said. “If vacancies arise in the university, they will be called back to work in the university,” the source said and added that till that they would be paid by the state government.