Editorial: Headless, stunted universities of TN

CHENNAI: For Tamil Nadu, the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) 2025 is a mixed bag, but there is little to cheer about. Though Chief Minister MK Stalin highlighted Tamil Nadu holding the largest share of ranking of institutions in higher education in the country, the truth is that many reputed Higher Education Institutions (HEI) from the State have slipped by a few notches and lost some of their sheen. But for the unsavory political slugfest, many of these stellar institutions with a hoary past and a proven track record could have fared better by competing fiercely with their peers in the respective categories.

One of the issues plaguing the universities in the State is that more than a dozen universities do not have a Vice-Chancellor. This leadership vacuum has resulted in a systemic paralysis affecting aspects like vision, strategic planning, academic innovation, faculty recruitment, and efficient administration. It has a cascading effect on the quality of education imparted and academic research conducted in state universities and the affiliated colleges. In March this year, DT Next had reported how the absence of not only VCs but also other key senior officers, such as registrars, controllers of examinations, and finance officers, has crippled the entire system.

It is unfortunate that State universities have become a battleground between Governors nominated by the Centre and non-BJP State governments. Even though the State universities are established by State governments, the Governors were designated as Chancellors with some powers, including the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. But in recent years, non-BJP State governments have increasingly begun to feel that the BJP was using the office of the Governor to either put hurdles in decision-making or even to override or scuttle its decisions. The UGC entered the fray by coming up with its own draft guidelines, which are perceived by State governments as undermining their powers and buttressing those of the Governor.

Caught in the crossfire, the State universities and the colleges under them have been bearing the brunt of the turf war. In the broader interest of education, the issue should be resolved at the earliest. As the cases are being fought in courts, the concerned parties should put their politics aside and agree to an effective ad hoc system that will put state HEIs back on track.

Another major concern with regard to NIRF rankings relates to employability. The rankings do have a parameter called Graduate Outcome, which is about the success of graduates in getting jobs. Government data has shown that in State after State, the unemployment rate among graduates and post-graduates has been high, largely due to their unemployability. HEIs, which have low Graduate Outcome scores in the NIRF ranking, need to address the issue through the overhauling of the curriculum to strike a balance between knowledge and skills, imparting skills training followed by internships in workplaces. The government should also launch an employment-linked incentives scheme along the lines of the PM Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY), but specifically focusing on graduates and post-graduates.

It must be noted that though the NIRF ranking framework is scientific, the results may be somewhat skewed due to the lack of rigorous and diligent verification, the scope for gaming the system, and the subjective and somewhat opaque metric of perception which can be vulnerable to regional and political biases, and often unfavourable to lesser-known institutions.

Reach us at editor.dtnext@dt.co.in