Time to cleanse university system: Academics

“It is the first time in the history of universities in Tamil Nadu that a sitting Vice-Chancellor has been arrested on charges of corruption. This shows the deeply entrenched problems in the university system. This incident will hopefully trigger a drive to clean the system as the Governor-Chancellor encouraged the students to do in his addresses at Madurai Kamaraj University and Anna University recently,” said Dr I Arul Aram, president of the Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations, adding, “When factors other than merit dominate the V-C appointments, there has to be a complete cleansing of the system to ensure it is corruption-free.” 

“We have seen that a gold medallist from the same university is not offered a job, instead a candidate from a less-meritorious institution is offered a job. In some cases, application of a PhD holder is ignored and a Masters degree holder is given priority because he or she pulled strings,” said the head of the department of a university in Chennai, adding that corruption has crept deeply into the system.