Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: Governor S.C. Jamir, chancellor of all state universities, today asked vice-chancellors to take urgent steps to “bring health to the ailing institutions burdened with fund crunch and ailing infrastructure.”

In a meeting at Raj Bhavan today, Jamir discussed threadbare various issues and challenges faced by the varsities such as encroachment on university property, steps taken to maintain discipline, conduct of examinations and results, student-teacher ratio, details of examinations, results and academic calendar among others. The vice-chancellors also discussed exam reforms, teacher vacancies and infrastructure gaps.

The need for amending the Orissa University Act, 1987, was also expressed for better control and autonomy of various colleges, including autonomous institutions. It was found that colleges were not able to comply with various regulating bodies and thus missing out on development funds.

Four sub-committees headed by various vice-chancellors were formed. They will prepare recommendations on amending the Orissa University Act on better incorporation of bodies such as the UGC, All India Council for Technical Education and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, for academic and administrative reforms and infrastructure development respectively.