Minister Lokesh outlines roadmap for university revival: Reports
VISAKHAPATNAM: Education minister Nara Lokesh has said restarting the long-pending recruitments is the first and most essential step in strengthening AP’s government universities.
The minister noted that AP would begin taking concrete steps in this respect soon. He emphasized that the decline in university standards” cannot be reversed without rebuilding academic leadership and filling critical vacancies.”
Lokesh had informed the assembly in September about the plans to form a committee to probe the irregularities across state universities.
On this, Deccan Chronicle enquired with him about the status of the committee.
Lokesh said the panel was at work and has sought additional time to complete its report. “The government is awaiting its findings and would take strong action against those responsible for the irregularities.”
The probe, he said, is part of a broader effort to restore credibility to institutions that had suffered due to years of administrative lapses and political interference.
The minister said the government is simultaneously focusing on appointing high-calibre vice-chancellors to steer the universities back to an era of academic excellence. For the first time, a professor from IIT has been appointed as VC of a state university.
Under the new VC’s supervision, the government would channel RUSA funds into both infrastructure upgrades and research-oriented projects.
Lokesh said he had met Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to request a one-year extension for utilising the remaining `200 crore in RUSA funds; and the request was approved.
The education minister said the deterioration of government universities was widely acknowledged, with many institutions having been run as political centres rather than as academic spaces. Andhra University, he noted, had been among the worst affected.
“The appointment of the IIT professor as VC is part of a phased plan to cleanse and reform the university, backed by targeted funding and structural changes.”
Lokesh said the government is committed to bringing Andhra University back on track through systematic reforms and sustained investment.
“Recruitment delays were primarily the result of flawed notifications issued in previous years, which triggered legal complications that continue to stall the process. In contrast, the DSC recruitment was completed within 150 days because it involved fresh notifications without legal baggage,” he said.
The government, he said, is working to resolve the pending legal issues and hopes to issue new recruitment notifications for universities soon. Strengthening government universities depends on restoring academic staffing and leadership. The state is determined to move in that direction.
On Tuesday, an announcement came that India’s first integrated aviation, aerospace and defence-related EduCity would be established near the upcoming Bhogapuram International Airport.
Spread across 136 acres, the GMR–MANSAS Aviation EduCity is envisioned as a national capability hub to address the acute global shortage of aviation professionals. It would position India as a major supplier of skilled talent.
Lokesh presided over the MoU signing between GMR Group and the MANSAS Trust in Visakhapatnam.
The minister said the state aims to have Telugu people constitute at least 25 per cent of the global civil aviation workforce. “The EduCity is designed not merely as another university but as an ecosystem that produces job-ready professionals, advances cutting-edge research and delivers benchmarked skills globally.”
