The Karnataka State Council for Higher Education (KSCHE), one of the highest bodies tasked with the responsibility of making major decisions on higher education in the state, has not convened its general body meeting for the last two years.
As per the norms, the general body meeting of the KSCHE should be conducted once every six months to discuss and decide on various issues in the higher education sector - related to administrative, academic and policy matters.
The general body consists of 52 members, a majority of them are vice-chancellors (VCs) of the state-run universities.
According to the details accessed by DH, the last general body meeting was conducted on December 17, 2019, and it was the 22nd meeting.
“The meeting of the general body is needed during this time as there are several unresolved issues at various universities,” said a VC who is also a member of the general body of KSCHE.
“Issues, like the scam in the recruitment examinations held for assistant professors and the arrest of a registrar of a university, should have been discussed in the general body meeting for better solutions and action,” he added.
According to the sources in the Council, the higher education department and KSCHE are busy implementing National Education Policy (NEP) and this led to the postponement of the general body meeting.
“The KSCHE has constituted various committees and their reports are awaited. A general body meeting is necessary to discuss those reports and take decisions,” another VC said.
The KSCHE was constituted in the year 2005 by scrapping the Inter-University Board. Council has representatives even from private and deemed-to-be-universities.
The state has 25 government-run, 10 private and 15 deemed-to-be-universities. The higher education minister is the chairman of the council.
When contacted, Prof B Thimmegowda, vice-chairman of the Council, told DH, “The term of the earlier general body was completed and we had to reconstitute the same. The Higher Education Commission was proposed under National Education Policy. Now, we are at it and have decided to reconstitute the general body and convene a meeting.”