State Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope revealed this while speaking as chief guest of the sixtieth foundation day of the University of Pune (UoP). “The present process of selection of V-C has some drawbacks,” said Tope.

Presently, a committee consisting of nominees of chancellor, government and management council and some experts in the field of education select the V-C. The committee has six to seven members.

Tope admitted that sometimes the selection of the V-C has some degree of political interference. “We are trying to overcome it and give the best candidate as the V-C, one who can speed up the development of the university,” he said.

“We will reduce the size of the committee and involve education experts to make the process transparent. The state government is also considering amending the present Act to bring about these changes,” he added.

Tope also talked about setting up an independent university for technical courses. “We have already prepared a cabinet note to set up the independent technical university. The issue is expected to come up in the upcoming cabinet meeting at the end of this month,” he said.

Similarly, about setting up an independent university for performing arts, he said, “The film industry has a big presence in the state and yet there are not many institutes to teach performing arts. We are trying to overcome this by setting up an independent university.”

Tope said the government was going to set up a think tank to draw a roadmap on how to raise the standard of higher education in the state. “The think tank will also work on bringing in UGC grants and ensuring speedy implementation of various central government schemes for higher education,” he said. “

With this, the state government is planning to take the enrollment ratio in higher education to 20 per cent by 2010 from 13 per cent now,” he added.

Veteran socialist leader Bhai Vaidya, management Guru P C Shejwalkar, Comrade Pandharinath Sahane, educationalist Balasaheb Wagh, D Y Patil and social worker Sindhutai Sapkal were honoured with lifetime achievement awards on the occasion. Vice-Chancellor Narendra Jadhav presided over the function.