PaRCha - JNU - AISF-SFI - 2004 ID-38350
.
STUDENTS' FEDERATION OF INDIA .
RESIST UGC'S BLACK '21.01.04.
MODEL ACT'I.
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH FEDCUTA STRIKE!.
Friends,The Federation of Central University Teachers.
tomorrow to protest against the UGC' Association (FEDCUTA) has called for a strike.
Universities in India' and the various attempts being by the UGC to curb the autonomy of universities. .
's attempts to impose a retrograde Model Act for 21 61 Century.
The SFI stands in solidarity with FEDCUTA's call and appeals to all members of the university.
community to make it a success..
The proposed Model Act-a concept paper on which was circulated to different universities latelast year-represents an attempt by the NDA government to give statutory legitimacy to its policy of.
ruthless privatization and commercialization of higher education in our country. The concept paper.
makes it clear that the government would continue to withdraw resources from higher educatjon anduniversities would have to raise resources to become "self-sufficienf'. The implication is clear-furtherfee-hikes and user charges which would exclude a large section of potential students from access tohigher education. By making the carrying out of corporate-sponsored research and consultancy projectspart of the functions of a university, the Act seeks to force universities to become dependent on theprivate sector at the cost of their academic autonomy. In fact, the Act proposes to create a post ofPro-V.C. who would be chosen not on the basis of academic competence but on the basis of hisbusiness experience and who would be responsible for "resource mobilization"..
The UGC's 'model' under NDA rule is the IMF-World Bank'.
s vision of turning higher educationinto a sphere of profit-making by domestic and international capital, ultimately opening up the educationsector for MNCs under GATS. The Government has already declared its allegiance to this vision in theBirla-Ambani report authored by the representatives of two of the largest monopoly houses of ourcountry. Implementation of this fundamentally undemocratic vision has as its corollary growing.
authoritarianism on university campuses. Most students in our country lack even the basic rights to.
associate and elect representatives and student protests have been brutally repressed. The UGC's.
Model Act formalizes this denial of democratic ri~hts by proposing ..depoliticisation of the campus for a.
healthy academic environment'' and recommending that Executive Councils-which are the highestdecision-making bodies of universities-be reconstituted as completely nominated bodies with no.
elected representatives at all..
The UGC'.
.
s slavish implementation of the IMF-WB's dictates is also evident in its attempt to cover.
up the withdrawal of adequate educational facilities by urging universities to expand distance education.It adds insult to injury by recommending that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) rather.
than 'old-fashioned' correspondence courses be used to impart this distance education at a time whenthe Government's anti-people economic policies are depriving a vast majority of the people of ourcountry even the basic means of livelihood.The attempt to replace the different university Acts with a anti-student neo-liberal Model Act is.
part of the HRD Ministry's larger project to curb the autonomy of institutions of higher education. Apart.
.
from using its financial powers to coerce policy making, the UGC has been forcing universities to obtain.
accreditation-a process that not only forces universities to toe the HRD Ministry's line in order to obtaina good rating but which has also shown immense potential for grossest corruption and misuse. Now, theUGC is trying to force Central universities to admit students to professional and technical courses.
through a common admission test. This would be a particularly retrograde step in the case of universitiesthat have developed their own democratic admission policies. This has already happened in AMU, in the.
case of which the HRD Ministry's attempt is to tamper with its unique character as a minority institution..
The UGC has also been trying to bring admission to the MCA course of our university under a common.
admission test, thereby subverting the JNU admission policy's provisions for students from socially andregionally deprived sections..
We appeal to all progressive and democratic-minded members of the academic community tounite against the UGC's policy of privatization and commercialization and join the struggle for a higher.
education system which is democratic both in terms of access and content. .
STUDENT-TEACHER-KARMACHARI UNITY LONG UVEISd/-Parimal Maya Sudhakar Sd/-Vice President, JNU-SFI Jyotirmoy BhattacharyaPresident, JNU-SFI .
.. .
.
PaRCha - JNU - AISF-SFI - 2004 ID-38350
.
STUDENTS' FEDERATION OF INDIA .
RESIST UGC'S BLACK '21.01.04.
MODEL ACT'I.
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH FEDCUTA STRIKE!.
Friends,The Federation of Central University Teachers.
tomorrow to protest against the UGC' Association (FEDCUTA) has called for a strike.
Universities in India' and the various attempts being by the UGC to curb the autonomy of universities. .
's attempts to impose a retrograde Model Act for 21 61 Century.
The SFI stands in solidarity with FEDCUTA's call and appeals to all members of the university.
community to make it a success..
The proposed Model Act-a concept paper on which was circulated to different universities latelast year-represents an attempt by the NDA government to give statutory legitimacy to its policy of.
ruthless privatization and commercialization of higher education in our country. The concept paper.
makes it clear that the government would continue to withdraw resources from higher educatjon anduniversities would have to raise resources to become "self-sufficienf'. The implication is clear-furtherfee-hikes and user charges which would exclude a large section of potential students from access tohigher education. By making the carrying out of corporate-sponsored research and consultancy projectspart of the functions of a university, the Act seeks to force universities to become dependent on theprivate sector at the cost of their academic autonomy. In fact, the Act proposes to create a post ofPro-V.C. who would be chosen not on the basis of academic competence but on the basis of hisbusiness experience and who would be responsible for "resource mobilization"..
The UGC's 'model' under NDA rule is the IMF-World Bank'.
s vision of turning higher educationinto a sphere of profit-making by domestic and international capital, ultimately opening up the educationsector for MNCs under GATS. The Government has already declared its allegiance to this vision in theBirla-Ambani report authored by the representatives of two of the largest monopoly houses of ourcountry. Implementation of this fundamentally undemocratic vision has as its corollary growing.
authoritarianism on university campuses. Most students in our country lack even the basic rights to.
associate and elect representatives and student protests have been brutally repressed. The UGC's.
Model Act formalizes this denial of democratic ri~hts by proposing ..depoliticisation of the campus for a.
healthy academic environment'' and recommending that Executive Councils-which are the highestdecision-making bodies of universities-be reconstituted as completely nominated bodies with no.
elected representatives at all..
The UGC'.
.
s slavish implementation of the IMF-WB's dictates is also evident in its attempt to cover.
up the withdrawal of adequate educational facilities by urging universities to expand distance education.It adds insult to injury by recommending that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) rather.
than 'old-fashioned' correspondence courses be used to impart this distance education at a time whenthe Government's anti-people economic policies are depriving a vast majority of the people of ourcountry even the basic means of livelihood.The attempt to replace the different university Acts with a anti-student neo-liberal Model Act is.
part of the HRD Ministry's larger project to curb the autonomy of institutions of higher education. Apart.
.
from using its financial powers to coerce policy making, the UGC has been forcing universities to obtain.
accreditation-a process that not only forces universities to toe the HRD Ministry's line in order to obtaina good rating but which has also shown immense potential for grossest corruption and misuse. Now, theUGC is trying to force Central universities to admit students to professional and technical courses.
through a common admission test. This would be a particularly retrograde step in the case of universitiesthat have developed their own democratic admission policies. This has already happened in AMU, in the.
case of which the HRD Ministry's attempt is to tamper with its unique character as a minority institution..
The UGC has also been trying to bring admission to the MCA course of our university under a common.
admission test, thereby subverting the JNU admission policy's provisions for students from socially andregionally deprived sections..
We appeal to all progressive and democratic-minded members of the academic community tounite against the UGC's policy of privatization and commercialization and join the struggle for a higher.
education system which is democratic both in terms of access and content. .
STUDENT-TEACHER-KARMACHARI UNITY LONG UVEISd/-Parimal Maya Sudhakar Sd/-Vice President, JNU-SFI Jyotirmoy BhattacharyaPresident, JNU-SFI .
.. .
.