The entrance of Utkal University of Culture in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 14: The Utkal University of Culture, the only government-run culture university in the country, is reeling under crisis due to government apathy.

Established in 1999, the university has 263 students in 24 departments pursuing post-graduate (PG) courses. The government had earlier sanctioned 19 teaching posts but the university has only three regular teachers. The guest faculty manages the entire workload. Since the university does not have sufficient number of teachers, it has been denied funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

As per section 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956, a state university needs to fulfil a certain criterion to be eligible for central assistance. Every department should have one professor, two readers and three lecturers. Although the university has met the prerequisites in terms of adequate infrastructure and a good library, it has not been able to fulfil an important norm – five PG departments with 30 faculty members.

“The government fills up the required number of teaching posts if we have a minimum of 12 students in one department. We have six departments — Odissi dance, Odissi vocal, Hindustani vocal, painting, sculpture and applied arts. There are more than 20 students in each of these departments.

“However, we have not yet got the requisite number of teachers for those courses,” said a highly-placed official of the university on condition of anonymity.

Students of the university alleged that the dearth of teachers has affected their studies. “The guest lecturers come to take classes as per their convenience. We have exams from February 12, but our course remains incomplete.

“We always pay our course fee on time, but we are not getting proper facilities. We used to get scholarship in the undergraduate level, but we are not getting any scholarship at the PG level,” a student said.

Another student of applied arts said they were not able to display their work due to inadequate computers. “We have just four computers for a department with 20-odd students. Every student needs a separate computer for designing and graphics,” a student said.

He added: “There is no opportunity for campus placement. Also, the government’s decision to do away with the posts of music and art teachers in schools and colleges has affected our job prospects. We want the posts to be reintroduced.”

Vice-chancellor (V-C) Amiya Pattanayak said the state government and university authorities were making efforts to match UGC’s 12(B) status soon. The V-C said had put forth the demand to fill up the required number of teaching posts before governor M.C. Bhandare and culture minister Debi Prasad Mishra.

The duo had visited the campus last week on the occasion of the university’s foundation day.

“The governor visited our campus on January 4 for the first time. We have demanded for the creation of 30 teaching and 40 non-teaching (at present 25) posts.

“Finance minister Prafulla Ghadei has promised us that the progress of the university will not be hampered due to lack of funds,” said Pattanayak.

Utkal University of Culture

SHILPI SAMPAD

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 14: The Utkal University of Culture, the only government-run culture university in the country, is reeling under crisis owing to government apathy.

The university, which was established in 1999, has a total of 263 students in 24 departments pursuing post graduation (PG) courses. The government had earlier sanctioned 19 teaching posts but the university has only three regular teachers. The entire workload is managed by the guest faculty. Since the university does not have the sufficient number of teachers, it has been denied funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

As per section 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956, a state university needs to fulfil a certain criterion to be eligible for central assistance. Every department should have one professor, two readers and three lecturers. Although the university has met the prerequisites of adequate infrastructure and a good library, it has not been able to fulfil an important norm – five PG departments with 30 faculty members.

“The government fills up the required number of teaching posts if we have a minimum of 12 students in one department. We have six departments, namely, Odissi dance, Odissi vocal, Hindustani vocal, painting, sculpture and applied arts with more than 20 students in each. But we have not yet got the requisite number of teachers for those courses,” said a highly placed official at the university, on the condition of anonymity.

Students of the university alleged that the dearth of teachers has affected their studies. “The guest lecturers come to take classes as per their convenience. We have exams from February 12 but our course is still incomplete. We always pay our course fee on time but we are not getting proper facilities. We used to get scholarship in the undergraduate level but not getting any such at the PG level,” rued a student.

Another student of applied arts said they were not able to display their work due to inadequate number of computers. “We have just four computers for a department with 20-odd students. Each one needs a computer to do the designing and graphics,” alleged the student, adding, “There is no opportunity for campus placement. Also, the government’s decision to do away with the posts of music and art teachers in schools and colleges has affected our job prospects. We want the posts to be reintroduced.”

Vice-chancellor, Amiya Pattanayak said efforts are being made on the part of the state government and university officials to acquire UGC’s 12 (B) status soon. He said he has put forth the demands to fill up the required number of teaching posts before the governor, M. C. Bhandare, and culture minister, Debi Prasad Mishra. The duo had visited the campus last week on the occasion of the university’s foundation day on January 4.

“The governor visited our campus for the first time. We have demanded for the creation of required number of 30 teaching and 40 non-teaching (at present, 25) posts. Finance minister, Prafulla Ghadei has promised us that the progress of the culture university will not be hampered for the want of funds,” said Pattanayak.