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3 Madras University, Bharathidasan Departments to Lose UGC funding


CHENNAI:
Three departments of University of Madras and Bharathidasan University stand to lose funding from the University Grants Commission for not meeting requirements. The departments of economics and library & information sciences in the University of Madras, and the economics department of Bharathidasan University in Trichy stand to lose between 40 lakh to 50 lakh. The three departments are among the 29 in universities across the country that has not been recommended to receive fresh grants. UGC recently put out the list of institutions that received or were not recommended to get funds under the commission's special assistance programme (SAP).

 

The UGC has put Bharathidasan University's economics department on the 'not recommended' list for funding because the "quality of research work was not satisfactory, and the research output was below average" . University of Madras' economics department was not on the list for funding as "it does not seem to be doing significant work". The commission has said that the department may be encouraged to reapply next year. The university's library and information sciences department has not been recommended for funding because there are only two faculty members in the department against seven posts. "Performance was not satisfactory," the UGC remarked . The department is said to be the first in the field to get funding under the UGC's special assistance programme.

 

Economics department professors said they had applied for the centre for advanced studies status. "We have received funding at the department of special assistance level for more than 10 years. We are waiting for the UGC team's visit for evaluation," said economics professor K Jothi Sivagnanam. The library and information sciences faculty of the university said they did not apply for funding because they knew they were ineligible due to staff shortage. Officials of Bharathidasan University were not available for comment.

Posted on 24 Aug 2013