Government of Gujarat has decided to reschedule it’s plan to bring radical changes in the way the universities are administered. Initially planned for immediate implementation, the reforms as suggested by the committee regarding the “governance and leadership”, indicated replacement of elected members of syndicate and senate with board of governors
However, to rule out any resentment or opposition, in view of the Assembly elections to be held next year, the government has reprioritised it’s planning to bring amendment in the Universities Act to bring about this change in the governance structure from immediate to long-term.
Such amendments were suggested by the roadmap committee formed for the implementation of National Education Policy 2020 for having a Board of Governors and establish the role of existing executive councils in university governance. It had suggested replacement of elected members of syndicate and senate with board of governors in a targeted timeline starting 2022.
Meanwhile, the change in Government in September, there are new members also joining the committee. Prof Navin Sheth, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Technological University, Vice-Chancellor of Indian Institute of Teachers Education Gandhinagar Harshad Patel, Vice-Chancellor of Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University Ahmedabad Ami Upadhyay and founding director of International Centre for Cosmology, Chaursat University Anand Dr Pankaj Joshi are the newly inducted members in 16-member committee.
Established after the government passed the Private Universities Bill 2009, few universities including Gujarat Technological University, Shri Govind Guru University Godhra and Bhakt Kavi Narsinh Mehta University Junagadh, already have the board of governors’ structure.
Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani has declared that the government plans to implement the roadmap of National Education Policy 2020 completely by 2030. The state government will identify the Board of Governors based on the regulatory framework identified by the National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) and University Grants Commission guidelines
