Can new VC restore Jawaharlal Nehru University's past glory?

If you take a look at the recent academic appointments in Jawaharlal Nehru University, one thing becomes quite clear. It seems there is an unwritten rule that you will not be considered for an academic appointment if you are a former JNU student and perceived to be a 'liberal'. Faculty appointments are said to be scrutinised by ‘JNU representatives’ of the ruling party's parent organisation, and without their approval, not even a single position will be filled. If candidates favoured by these representatives are not available during the recruitment process, then those posts are kept vacant as long as required.

This is in complete contrast with the 'good old days’ when teaching positions were filled by ‘good students’ supervised by ‘good faculty members’. Favouritism was indeed in play back then, too, but the new recruits definitely met certain minimum standards. Many of the retired and serving mid-level and senior-level professors have done their PhDs under renowned first- or second-generation JNU supervisors. While it led to a kind of ‘inbreeding’ and made it difficult for outsiders—unless exceptionally qualified—to make it to the university, the larger academic standards of JNU were intact.

Since the number of candidates who subscribe to the ideology of the present regime is extremely limited, the university is now critically short of well-qualified faculty members, severely affecting the quality of academics.

Traditionally, JNU vice chancellors have been part of the university itself, either as students or as faculty members. The outgoing VC, however, was from IIT Delhi, a technocrat running a predominantly social science university. It remains to be seen whether new VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit—a social science scholar who did her PhD from JNU—will be able to undo the damage caused by the outgoing VC and restore the university’s past glory.

Pandit pursued her MPhil as well as PhD in international relations at the School of International Studies at JNU in the 1980s, before the 'Mandal era'. JNU, surprisingly, was the cradle of anti-Mandal politics, and old timers would still remember the ruckus caused by the opposition to Mandal recommendations and the progressive admission policy. Since then, rightwing student politics has thrived in the 'left bastion'.

Pandit’s PhD thesis was on Parliament and Foreign Policy in India: The Nehru Years. After her PhD, she joined as a faculty at Goa University in 1988, and moved to Pune University in 1993.

Being a student of Nehru’s contribution to Indian foreign policy, she must have been academically passionate about Nehruvian principles—normally, every research scholar is passionate about his/her PhD topic and wants to build a career in the same area. But it may not be an easy task. As soon as the news about her appointment as JNU VC came out on February 7, old pro-rightwing tweets from a handle said to be hers went viral. By evening, the account was deleted. And, the first student representatives who visited and greeted her after her appointment were members of the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS.

Throughout its history, JNU has had a character of its own, which was considerably different from most other Indian campuses. The institution was established in 1969 with the ambition of becoming a world-class university in a third-world country. For most of its history, JNU maintained the vision of its founding fathers. India’s premier foreign policy institute, the Delhi-based Indian School of International Studies—which was founded in 1955 on the model of the renowned US Council on Foreign Relations—merged with JNU in 1970, creating the School of International Studies.

JNU is known for its focus on social sciences and the School of International Studies (SIS) and the School Social Sciences (SSS), can be compared to leading departments across the world. The Centre for Historical Studies of the SSS is the only place in India where ancient, medieval and modern Indian history are taught simultaneously, while the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP) focuses on Indian economic planning and development. Both have immensely contributed to the nation-building process. Over the years, JNU has produced a good number of civil servants, foreign policy analysts, academics, journalists and politicians, including Union Ministers S. Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman and Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee.

JNU gets bright students from across the country through its own competitive examination and weightage marks are given for underprivileged students, not just on the basis of categories provided by the respective state governments, but by the university’s own specially formulated criteria. It takes into account gender, caste, backward nature of districts, non-metro cities and rural background.

JNU conducts a combined MPhil/PhD programme and candidates who clear the entrance test and interview join for a two-year MPhil programme, followed by a four-plus-one-year (four mandatory years and one-year extension) PhD. The MPhil programme consists of two semesters of course work and two semesters for writing a dissertation. The objective of the MPhil programme was to train students, especially from rural and underprivileged backgrounds, in conducting research and writing thesis. Since MPhil is not a major academic programme, the two years spent doing the course also helped students gain some work experience and gave those so inclined time for political activity and even to prepare for civil service examinations. Most of the candidates in JNU Students Union elections are either MPhil or early PhD scholars.

Throughout its history, JNU has always functioned like an opposition party. Students of the university challenged then prime minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency when she wielded unprecedented powers. After the Emergency was lifted, she was forced to resign as chancellor of the university. In November 2005, there were strong protests when prime minister Manmohan Singh visited the campus. Singh himself intervened after the Delhi Police arrested four students. He did not want them to be punished.

The current regime seems to be working overtime to change the character of the university. Apart from recruitments, it has done away with the MPhil programme. The PhD is being made a direct programme after the masters. The government apparently thinks that the 'free' MPhil students think more and participate actively in student politics, which is, by and large, left/liberal.

Also, the methodology of the entrance test has been changed: Earlier, it was descriptive and analytical with essay questions, now the entrance test even for PhD is objective type, so the actual assessment of a candidate's research skills gets diluted. The number of seats in many centres, especially history and other liberal arts centres, has been reduced. Besides, new programmes have been started such as management and engineering, and soon MBBS as well, leading to the dilution of the university’s character and its social science-centric framework.

Pandit, therefore, has a major challenge before her, if she wants to restore JNU’s glorious past—a university that is intellectually stimulating, politically vibrant and academically rigorous. The recruitment process needs a re-evaluation. The VC should also look into the academic output and writing skills of its freshly recruited faculty members. Academic publications in internationally reputed journals have come down. More and more teachers nowadays write what the government likes or wants and ‘critical/independent’ thinking is not rewarded and is often punished.

In a few months, it will become clear whether the new VC will be able to bring about a change, or will merely be an enforcer for those who were behind her appointment, just like her predecessor was.

The author is research fellow, Centre for Airpower Studies, New Delhi, and has a PhD in international relations from JNU.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.