President Pranab Mukherjee will launch the year-long centenary celebrations of Osmania University (OU) at a function to be held on its campus on Wednesday at a time when the varsity is struggling hard to regain its lost glory. Once hailed as one of the top five universities in India by 1947, the OU today is a poor 23 in the recently released list of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
The President, as per the inputs sought by his office in Rashtrapathi Bhawan from the university, is likely to throw light on the role of universities in nation building and the need to promote quest for knowledge and research. The President’s office sought information on the visit of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore to the university in its early days.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), too, will accompany the President. Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao will chair an alumni meet of the varsity on 27 April and Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will preside over a meeting of vice-chancellors of important and old universities in the country the same day, kick-starting the year-long fete.
OU was founded through a “firman” (royal charter) by the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan on 26 April 1918 as he wanted to create a world-class university where medicine, engineering and post-graduation science courses, too, were taught in Urdu medium. Before the Second World War, the university was considered a major centre of excellence in the middle and south Asia.
However, that was part of a hoary past. Slackened academic standards, shortage of teaching faculty, corruption in administration, lack of funds support from successive governments, students’ preference to petty politics and caste groups and tough competition from private and deemed universities are some of the reasons for the poor showing of the OU over the years. Though the university has grown in size and stature with over three lakh student enrolments and around 10,000 post-graduation students from around 100 departments on its campus colleges, the institution has suffered neglect at the hands of successive governments due to paucity of funds and politicisation of administration. Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao leads the pack of dozens of former Union ministers, chief ministers, governors and hundreds of parliamentarians and legislators who had passed out of the university. The OU always symbolised vibrant political life right from the pre-Independence days as its students were in the forefront of many movements.
However, the same has also become its negative point as academics suffered due to those agitations which subsequently were monopolised by the vested interests. Delayed academic calendars, entry of caste groups in campus politics and appointments of vice-chancellors who were associated with politicians in power had led to the degeneration of the academic atmosphere on the campus.
“In the earlier days, VCs of OU were of high academic background and known for their commitment to excellence and integrity. But, over time, appointments were made purely on the basis of their closeness to politicians in the ruling parties,” former MLC Chukka Ramaiah said.
Ramaiah, who had also served on the executive council of the OU for three years during the previous Congress government, voiced concern over the financial state of the university. The OU, which gets about Rs 700 crore from the state and the Central governments and generates another Rs 100 crore through internal resources, runs on deficit budget as the entire money goes into staff salaries and pensions. The TRS government has promised to give Rs 200 crore for the centenary celebrations, but has so far released only Rs 50 crore.