Students in colleges affiliated to the University of Madras will be allowed to pursue internship and projects in the university’s departments.
The university’s academic council in its meeting on Saturday resolved that the students would be charged a nominal fee, which will be determined by the university’s syndicate, for using the facilities.
The faculty members said that Ph.D. scholars from affiliated colleges, who publish articles in peer-reviewed journals, must include the university’s name along with the college’s name in their articles. They said the resolution would be sent to the Board of Research Studies for approval.
As per the university norms, an assistant professor can guide four research scholars, an associate professor six scholars and a professor eight in a year. In affiliated colleges too, assistant and associate professors are allowed to guide Ph.D. students. However, the students publish articles in journals with the name of their college alone.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework seeks information on the number of publications from the university. “Though the university gives Ph.D. degrees, when it comes to the number of publications [research], it is very low as the colleges do not include the affiliating university’s name. Hence the decision [to include the university’s name] was made,” said a university official.
The issue of pension payout was also discussed. Funds crunch has prevented the university from settling the retirement dues since 2018. In 2025, 13 faculty members will be retiring. According to the faculty, the university may need over ₹75 crore to settle the payouts.
Higher Education Secretary C. Samayamoorthy, who is also the chairman of the university’s convener committee in the absence of a Vice-Chancellor, assured the council members that he would try to resolve the issue after discussing it with the government. The faculty also pointed to the urgent need for recruitment. The university has 512 sanctioned posts and just 186 faculty members. Of them, 13 faculty members will retire in 2025. Nearly a dozen departments have no heads and are run by a professor as in-charge.
University faculty have also urged that the registrar form a high-level committee and draft a plan of action for the university for the next five years. The institution was accredited as A++ by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council, granting it full autonomy. But the cash-strapped university has not been able to move forward with its plans, sources said.
