As many universities in Karnataka state are facing shortage when it comes to permanent staff, a forum of former Vice-Chancellors has implored the government to fill these unoccupied posts as soon as possible by appointing qualified and proficient candidates.

Nothing significant can be achieved with the stop-gap arrangement of guest faculty for ritualistic teaching, said members of the Forum of Former Vice-Chancellors of Karnataka (FVCK), who also were a part in accepting the move of the state government to amend the Karnataka State Universities Act 2000.

Commenting on the infrastructure development of old and new universities, FVCK President and former Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University and Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), KS Rangappa, pointed out that it must be strengthened through adequate development grants and with due encouragement to raise internal resources. Further, members of the forum also asked to replace the archaic nomenclature of the Syndicate with the Board of Governors (BOG), which should have wide-ranging powers and authority to appoint Vice-Chancellors (VCs).

Members of the forum consisting of eminent academicians and former VCs like K Narayana Gowda, Prof SN Hegde, SR Niranjana, Suresh S Honnapagol and others, stated, "The recently introduced IIM (Indian Institute of Management) model is worth emulating. Well-defined statutes should be put in place to govern the steps to be taken by the search-cum-selection committee in identifying suitable candidates. In addition, for large universities with several hundreds of affiliated colleges, the post of a pro-chancellor is highly desirable to take care of with an intent to free the Vice-Chancellors from admissions, affiliations, examinations, litigations and student welfare activities, like hostel facilities, scholarships, cultural programmes."

Members of the forum appealed to the government to experiment in recognising a couple of universities as State Institutions of Excellence with full autonomy to lead the way in novelty, creativity and vibrance along the lines of some of the best global universities.