Need to Centralise the University of Kashmir

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Let me give you the gist in the very second sentence of this column. The decision to set up a new central university in Ganderbal is wrong, immature and short sighted; one which would go a long way in pushing down the standard of higher education in Kashmir. Here the intention is not to focus on the choice of the site for the university. That would come towards the end. The issue is of the gross negligence of the multidimensional impact of a new university on the existing framework of the higher education in two universities; the University of Kashmir and Islamic University of Science and Technology. Until a few days ago only whispers about the imminent impact were heard from several quarters; however on the day University of Kashmir convened her seventeenth convocation the broken, ambiguous and incoherent murmurs received a loud and clear expression. The articulation came from none other than the clear headed Chief Minister of the state. He identified two areas of concern, one of which would be analyzed some other time. His reflections on the new university were apt and suggestive. The moment he picked up the issue of a expanding circle of anxiety and crisis in the university with the arrival of a central university, he managed to strike the right chord with the audience in the hall.

Mr. Omar Abdullah hit it right in the eye of the higher education. He laid out the contours of an impending challenge before the academia. The time of complacency is over; new frontiers have to be crossed. Once the central university threw open her gates the cream from the university would prefer to migrate to the green pasture of the central university. In such a scenario how would the university cope with the rising demands from the cultural matrix of which it is an essential constituent. Frankly, the way in which he put across the reigning anxiety, and the place and timing selected for these utterances, is remarkable. Very few were not surprised by his speech; given his little political experience in the state and not much acquaintance with the innate temper of the educational institutions, the passionate speech he delivered won him many admirers from the listeners. However one could ask if it was really difficult to pinpoint the nature of the coming problems before the esteemed university? Something irking was tangible. He addressed as if he was sitting on the fence between the advantages and disadvantages of creating a central university and not as one who should see himself as very much an insider; as a stakeholder in the future of the higher education. If only he sees the coming years for the university as an insider and not as one who would prefer to sit behind along with his administration, and wait to see what the mandarins of the institution do to rescue her dipping reputation, then the questions would be self explanatory, containing answers right inside their own clear structure.

Keeping to his established image, the Governor and Chancellor of the university again showed his prudence and wisdom. He rose to speak after the Chief Minister. A difference was noticeable. He spoke as if he was part and parcel of the pervasive anxiety and not as an outsider sitting on the fence and tossing self evident questions at the audience. It was a more mature appreciation and understanding of the problem, and, more importantly, dropped a broad hint of a possible way out of the psychological quagmire. The undertone of his speech was clear; he did not wish the nearly seven decade’s old legacy of the University of Kashmir to go waste through the creation of an exit door for the teachers and the students from ‘here’ into the central university. The state has limited resources not enough to feed the university and her various campuses’; not enough to even reach close to the level of the central university. The firm idea underlying his text was that of recasting and reconstituting the university as a central university. No doubt a controversial matter for him to express yet he did not shy away from confessing as much. However, at the same time he emphasized on “thinking” by every interested section particularly the polity which might perceive a potential threat from his statement. As usual missing the subtext the next day newspapers flashed “man power poaching” tendency of central university from Kashmir University the next day, as their headline. The alternative programme subtly charted by the Chancellor was absent from these reports; a programme which he wanted to take up with the vice chancellor and other members of the university council. The university council meeting did take place a few days ago; what was discussed is yet to be heard or read.

For once it should be understood that the translation of the hint given by the governor into practice is the need of the moment. The decisions made in this moment will have far reaching consequences. The reasons are many. A few would do here. No sane and futuristic mind can afford to run away from the existing reality of state institutions. It is not hidden from anyone that the state run universities across India are suffering under the twin impact of mediocrity and nepotism. Our university is no different. Over the years the appointments both in the teaching and the non teaching are characterized by these twin maladies. The few appointments done exclusively on the basis of merit constitute what is loosely termed as the cream. When the central university comes into existence this cream, at least theoretically, is supposed to move over to the new territory. Then what would be left behind in the oldest higher educational institution; merely a useless enterprise where competition becomes a fiction and mediocrity and nepotism rule the roost. Second the university has already put an axe on her feet; it has spread itself far and wide with infinitesimal coordination. The campuses of the university are now spread out in Kashmir and the Ladakh province. What would be the fate of the content and constitution of these satellite organs is anyone’s guess. If nothing else, the axe would run deeper. Third, does a small place as ours really need a mushroom growth of universities? Two more universities, in addition to the central university, are believed to be coming soon.

Look at the other side of the picture. A central university needs more prerequisites than a state university. For countrywide appointees need suitable housing and other facilities. For all that land has to be bought; basic infrastructure has to be put up. This would entail money running into crores of rupees. What if the same money is routed towards the University of Kashmir? The strength of the faculty can be increased with the corresponding increase in the intake capacity of the students, and also towards the availability of high tech support system. Instead of beginning from degree zero in Ganderbal it is wiser to invest where groundwork has been finished.

Yes there are concerns. There are apprehensions with regard to the decision to centralizing. One is the common entrance test. The fear is that the National Institute of Technology would be repeated. The Kashmiri students are fast disappearing from this institute post the change from Regional Engineering College to the new found up gradation. The question asked is would not the local students be left out in a tough nationwide entrance test-the first point in the guidelines issued by Mr. Kapil Sibal for all the proposed central universities? That point can be taken care of through an appropriate security framework for the local student community.

The thing is that we are on the threshold of a new time in academics. The choices are clear and open. Should we go for jobs, mediocrity, nepotism and the vote bank? Or should we go for clarity, creativity, quality, merit and autonomous existence of higher educational institutions? The idiom should undergo a meaningful transformation. The lectures and sermons have often been heard; today we look forward to visionary does, which can see the Kashmirirs beyond the narrow and politically tinted prisms. For sure without political consensus across party lies, the decision to centralize the University of Kashmir would not materialize. And if it does not, wait to see the repercussions. (By Javaid Iqbal Bhat)