Ram Naik sets August deadline for varsity polls

“In the top 200 universities of the world, there is no Indian University and in the top 70 public sector universities of the country, there are only two Universities from UP, SGPGI is at 26th number, whereas Meerut university at 66th level,” Naik said, adding that the level of education in the state is not upto the mark, which is a matter of concern.

He said there was a need to develop an atmosphere, where there is a proper co-ordination between V-Cs and registrars and a joint effort is taken from both sides for improving the standard of education in the state.

Fixing August as deadline for universities to hold student union elections, the Governor said they would be held on the basis of recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee after the end of the current academic session.

Student union elections have not been held in most of the universities in UP for the past eight years. A delegation of RSS’s student wing ABVP also had met Naik last week and handed over a memorandum of various demands regarding conducting student union elections.

The Governor also announced the “Chancellor’s award” for the best performing university in UP, on the same lines as the “Visitor’s award” started by the Narendra Modi government.

In an another significant decision, the tenure of V-Cs of universities in the state was raised to five years and till the age of 70 as per the provisions of University Grants Commission. At present, tenure of vice-chancellors is three years and the maximum age is 65 years.

The Governor said that he had received complaints about anomalies in the distribution of scholarships, and asked universities to come out with a transparent system for distribution of scholarships to eligible students.

Naik said that outcome of the meeting would be given to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as well as the University Grants Commission at appropriate time for further action.