The search for another Vice Chancellor for the North East’s premier University – the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) will begin in right earnest as the former incumbent has joined the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) before the end of his tenure here. A Vice Chancellor has certain responsibilities towards the institution he belongs to. One of them would be that he completes his tenure and not use the position as a springboard to jump up the ladder of personal achievement at the cost of the institution. But this seems to be the rule rather than the exception today. The former incumbent, AN Rai went through some rough patches. His entry to NEHU was not uneventful. He had come from Mizoram University and there were protests here at his joining as it was felt that he had left Mizoram University under a cloud.
NEHU which started in 1974 has a long history of educational achievements behind it. But academic standards have deteriorated over the years. The professors who have joined the University in the last ten years cannot be called persons with academic excellence and intellectual acumen. Most have got in by virtue of their political and other connections. While the medium of communication and teaching in NEHU is English, except for vernacular subjects like Hindi, a good number of professors cannot communicate in basic English to their students. Communication is the key to teaching and learning. If communication is defective, no learning takes place. It is puzzling how such professors have found a foothold in NEHU. There are political undercurrents and groupism which impede the functioning of the University. Some senior professors including the former Vice Chancellor promoted themselves and gave themselves a salary raise. These are unheard of precedents. In NEHU it is not how well you teach and how strong an academic background you have, or what sort of guide you are to your research scholars that matters but who you know in the corridors of power in New Delhi. NEHU is located in Meghalaya and it is incumbent for the State Government here to play a more pro-active role to see that a capable administrator and a brilliant academician with no unsavoury history behind him/her joins as Vice Chancellor, NEHU at the earliest.
