Monday, October 18, 2010

Rumblings in NIT system

Directors of two NITs, Warangal and Trichy, have been suspended following various charges against them, IE reported a while ago. The ministry of HRD has sought the approval of the President for the dismissal of the chairman of the board of NIT, Kurukshetra. Apparently in a sign that it is not happy with the state of affairs of NITs, the ministry has commenced the search for various NIT directors a full year before the completion of tenures of the present ones.

I can't comment on the specific cases above. But if the system is acting at all, it is a good sign. One of the sorriest things about our elite institutions is the complete lack of accountability of directors and the boards. If people are being called to account, that is a healthy sign. I also approve of the search process commencing well in advance. Typically, the search starts so late that the incumbent hangs of for several months after his tenure.

Here's a suggestion towards ensuring accountability of directors: there should be a mid-term appraisal of all directors. The appraisal should document what has been accomplished during the director's tenure up to that point and what is proposed to be accomplished in the remaining period of his tenure. This appraisal should be placed in the public domain by being posted at the Institute's website.

3 comments:

Praveen Jaladanki said...

I agree to the comments given on the system and particularly the suggestions provided.

NITTian @ IIM A said...

I believe that the fault lies with the inability to have a proper vision statement and accountability for the various "NITs". The only thing which seems to have changed from the REC days is the brand name and the amount of funds granted by the central government "on paper".
Being a student of the 2010 passout batch from NIT Trichy, I had witnessed over the past 4 years, the official apathy to the degradation in standards of the quality of learning,teaching and academic standards happening over the years.
It is hard but true that this very institute known earlier as REC Trichy, produced much better and learned engineers in the past.
The politics in the administration and power plays have only disillusioned the senior most and most knowledgeable faculty, the real assets of the institute who now choose to shy away from taking charge.
Holding the Directors alone accountable would not suffice. The system requires a complete overhaul right from removing the incompetent newly recruited faculty who had a virtual back door entry to the tainted administrators.

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