Team Herald
PANJIM: The present and retired professors of Goa University appeared disappointed at the downgrading of Goa University by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
Professor Dr Joe D’Souza, a retired faculty member of Department of Microbiology Department and Environmental Science, Goa University, said that the down-gradation is a very serious and anxious issue and that the immediate steps needs to be taken to improve it.
“I think the State government is also equally responsible for this situation. Poor research, lack of research equipment, laboratories and other high-end facilities, recruitment based on favoritism, substandard research publications, lack of interactive sessions on international level and others must have affected the grading of Goa University.”
“During my time, we had won British Council Scholarship, Rotary International Award, Fulbright Scholarship, UNESCO Fellowship, DAAD German Fellowship, Commonwealth prize which was noted by the NAAC peer members and we were upgraded accordingly,” added Dr D’Souza.
Head of Department of Konkani, Professor Hanumant Chopdekar in his reaction said, “Although the NAAC has handed over the reports regarding the assessment to GU, it has not yet been shared with the staff.”
Prof Chopdekar informed that the aspects regarding same will be discussed in the meeting scheduled to be held shortly and only then the professors will be in the position to comment on the relegation of University by NAAC.
Prof Chopdekar further added that the Goa University was not expecting this downgranding but rather was expecting it to be upgraded to either A+ or A++.
Adding Prof Chopdekar said, “Though the reports were unfortunate and unpredictable, we will have to accept and work on the path of improvement.”
Professor Dr Chandrashekher Rivonkar, Senior Professor and Dean of School of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University said that the assessment was done by very eminent people and that he believes that NAAC in their assessment report must have mentioned in detail regarding the shortfalls and must have also stated the reasons behind this relegation.
Prof Rivonkar mentioned that the less strength of students compared to other universities might have been one of the reasons for the relegation.
“Though Goa University stands among top 10 universities as far as research field is concerned, it must have not performed well in some of the other areas,” he opined.
“It cannot exactly be termed as a down-gradation but it is about how the GU has performed in the last five years. These are the things that can happen over the period of time. The present ranking implies that the GU needs to work hard by putting extra efforts to improve the ranking,” added Prof Rivonkar.
