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Prez acting irresponsibly over rejection of names for Vice Chancellor of OUSL: FUTA

15 Jun 2021

In a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday (14), the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) has expressed their extreme displeasure and strong opposition regarding the arbitrary rejection of the names of candidates recommended by the council of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), for the post of Vice Chancellor (VC) of that University, which falls vacant on 23/06/2021. According to the FUTA, the President’s failure to act responsibly and transparently with regard to this development will lead to the destabilization of the entire university system of the country. The FUTA stressed that all candidates put forward by them were selected following a procedure introduced by the government through the University Grants Commission (UGC) Circular No 02/2020 of 4th May 2020. “Under this system, five candidates are selected at first by a five-member committee comprising two academics from within the university and three members nominated by the UGC. The circular requires this committee to allocate marks to the applicants according to a predefined set of criteria as specified in the aforementioned circular. Then within the same day, the council of the university re-allocates marks for the five candidates based on their qualifications, experience and a presentation they may make before the council, and select three names which are ranked according to the marks they receive. This list is then forwarded to the UGC and the UGC is expected to forward this list to your excellency with its recommendation,” the FUTA explained. Further, it was highlighted that as per clause no.34 (1) (a) of the Universities Act of 1978 it is the President’s duty to then appoint a suitable candidate from the three names thus sent considering the UGC’s recommendation. The FUTA mentioned that despite the fact that this procedure took up to 06 months and was carried out properly in this instance, the Office of the President has arbitrarily rejected the shortlist with no apparent reason. “As FUTA we believe such an arbitrary action creates an extremely negative precedent for the entire university system. This arbitrary rejection implies that you have no faith either in the VC selection system introduced by your own government or in the council of the university, which is the supreme governance body of the institution,” the FUTA stressed. It was also mentioned that the message sent out by such an action is that the President will reject nominations for the post of VC until such time that a name acceptable to him is forwarded and it will lead to the direct politicization of the VC selection process. “Such an impression within the academic community will discourage many highly qualified and independent academics from applying for the top position in the university, leaving the door open for mediocre and politically partisan individuals to become the VC,” the FUTA argued. The FUTA also stressed the importance of having independent and qualified academics to lead the university system, in the current period of crisis where the Coronavirus pandemic has caused multiple negative impacts on Sri Lanka’s economy and society. “Upending an established procedure and creating confusion within the academic community is not the kind of action that we as FUTA expect from an enlightened political leadership. We also believe that the arbitrary rejection of the nominations undermines the core principles of autonomy and democratic governance enshrined within the Universities Act of 1978 and creates an impression of highly politicized executive overreach in university governance. Given the above context, FUTA demands that the re-advertisement process for the post of VC of the OUSL be immediately halted and that a suitable candidate from the already recommended list be appointed as soon as possible,” the FUTA concluded.


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