Why Kashmir University needs the leadership change urgently

Academia, according to academics of repute, runs more on morals and ethics than professionalism. And academic institutions and academics lacking morals and ethics not only run the risk of losing credibility and reputation, but also face a serious charge of producing scholars and students lacking ethics and morals. And this is considered too dangerous for the conscious society that aims to produce genuine scholars and students.

Of late, the Valley’s highest chair of learning—University of Kashmir—appears to be fast falling in the category of academic institutions lacking morals and ethics, which runs contrary to its ‘vision’ and ‘mission’ which envisions the institution “to be a world class University committed to create and disseminate knowledge for human development and welfare” and “to create intellectually stimulating environment, promote excellence in teaching, research and extension activities and facilitate academic freedom, diversity and harmony.”

The more-than-75-year-old institution must know, by now, that no academic institution in the world was created without the fundamental adherence to ethics and morals, which are gradually emulated by their students and researchers alike. The blame for this downright downfall in the Kashmir University’s ability to uphold morals and ethics lies squarely on its leadership, which has lately thrown off ethics and morals to the winds and foster the culture of mediocrity, favouritism and lack of sensitivity to the ‘core values’ that a university leadership is expected to uphold.

This is primarily the reason why the University of Kashmir urgently needs a leadership change. Today, old academicians of the Kashmir University would tell you how a few former Vice-Chancellors cared more about ethics and morals than the chair. This is the reason why a Vice-Chancellor like Prof Waheed-ud-Din Malik would have preferred to step aside on turning 60 or 65 years in age, as the case would be for the upper age limit for a sitting Vice-Chancellor to operate under ethics and norms. This is the reason why a former Vice-Chancellor like Prof Shah Manzoor Alam would not have held open-position interviews at the fag end of his tenure in view of the ethics and morals involved.

But today the fact is that distinguished personalities like Prof Alam and Prof Malik are no more. And hence, the ethics and morals that they held dear to themselves than anything else are no more. Today, the sitting Vice-Chancellor feels no shame in holding interviews at the fag end of her tenure and is even ready to battle allegations of favouritism. Today, the sitting Vice-Chancellor doesn’t feel the need to uphold morals and ethics and step aside on turning 65 when even a UGC chairman cannot continue beyond this age. It goes without saying that UGC is the national regulatory body for all varsities.

Another reason why the University of Kashmir (regardless of all the hype over its so-called NAAC accreditation and other rankings) needs a leadership change is its report card of the last three years in particular. A cursory look at the varsity’s academic audit would reveal a shameful picture of a steep decline in its PG admissions, with some seats in the open category remaining vacant in the main and satellite campuses, let alone the payment seats which aren’t being filled in many of its departments of late.

The report card would also reveal how a number of new courses were introduced without any application of mind. These new courses don’t have the faculty to teach or infrastructure to build on its future capacities. Hence, a newly-introduced course like AI or Energy Studies would naturally find fewer takers than expected. The report card would also reveal a pathetic state of affairs in the satellite campuses like Kupwara, Baramulla and Anantnag, where students grapple with faculty and infra shortages.

Yet another reason why the University of Kashmir needs  a leadership change is the nasty trend of allowing faculty to assume non-teaching assignments at the expense of students’ teaching and research for which these ‘teachers’ have been primarily employed.

This news agency recently filed an exclusive story of how more than two dozen teachers are ‘involved’ in non-teaching assignments sometimes far away from their campuses. One wonders how the University’s Vice-Chancellor has allowed this trend to flourish rather than finding ways and means to curb it. No real academic institution in the world would allow a professor’s services to be utilized for non-teaching purposes. And conversely, no genuine and true professor would allow himself or herself to be ‘used’ for non-academic assignment for a petty Bolero vehicle and few extra emoluments.  But when an institution has such poor minds in abundance, there is no wonder why the institution is failing on the academic front.

There is a reason why the blame for all the mess that the institution faces must be put on the Vice-Chancellor alone. Because if an academic leader fails to lead with grace and dignity, the whole system is bound to suffer. If the Vice-Chancellor blatantly disregards ethics and morals, there is hardly any reason to expect the faculty and staff to uphold these. For the Honourable Chancellor of the University, it becomes all the more important to assess the University’s progress on academic and administrative fronts. Because if the University dooms on these fronts due to the failure of the leadership, it is bound to create a negative perception among students who would only stay away from it.

The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, who is himself a distinguished alumni of prestigious Banaras Hindu University, would do well by urgently constituting a search committee to find a new Vice-Chancellor for the University of Kashmir who can truly help realise the University’s vision and mission. There is no dearth of genuine academic leaders in the country. It is important to save the institution as old as Kashmir University from falling into the trap of mediocrity and favouritism. And the change of leadership would be the first step to arrest this practice.