V-Cs of 20 state-aided varsities come together to form council
Kolkata: Vice-Chancellors of 20 state-aided universities have come together to form West Bengal Vice-Chancellors' Council (WBVCC), with the purpose of further improvement in the quality of higher education and maintaining better liaison among the universities.
"There were a few universities before. But now we have 32 universities among which 22 are state-aided. There is at least a single university in every district. So, we felt the need of having a close coordination among us for smooth functioning of all the universities," said Subires Bhattacharyya, the secretary of WBVCC who officially announced the formation of the council.
It has been learnt that 18 Vice-Chancellors have signed, agreeing to be a part of WBVCC, while two of them have sent messages giving their nod to be a part of the council.
Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University Suranjan Das is the president of the council, while Rabindra Bharati University V-C Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Netaji Subhas Open University V-C Subha Shankar Sarkar are the vice-presidents.
Dipak Kar, V-C of Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, is the joint secretary of the council. Talks are on with the private universities too, so that they also become a part of the joint forum.
The WBVCC will soon hold a convention to decide on the way forward for the council, where state Education minister Partha Chatterjee will also be invited. The council wants a uniform statute of all universities.
When asked whether Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who happens to be the Chancellor of the state universities, will be called at the convention, a member of the council said: "Our good relation with the Chancellor will be very much there. But we want to make it clear that all these universities are state-run and 95 percent of the funds required for functioning of the universities come from the state government. So, we have to inform the Education minister for anything in this regard."
A senior council member reiterated that the universities are enjoying autonomy and the state government does not interfere in the matter. The council will soon apply for registration.
