Amid reiterated claims by the prime minister that university vice-chancellors would be appointed on the basis of merit, a search committee on Friday called applications from the aspirants to lead Tribhuvan University.

The committee headed by Minister for Education Ashok Kumar Rai invited applications along with a vision paper and professional work plan from the academics who have at least three years of experience in any office bearer position of the varsities. The notice met with criticism, saying the requirement of three years’ experience limits the open competition. It contradicted Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s claim that the university leader would be appointed through open competition, they said.

The members of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives also raised the question. “The criteria bar free competition. They must be revisited,” said Bidya Bhattarai, a CPN-UML lawmaker. Sumana Shrestha, a Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker, said the criteria for the vice-chancellor selection should be discussed at the House committee.

After the controversy, Prime Minister Dahal directed the Rai-led committee to change the criteria. According to the statement from Dahal’s secretariat, he ordered a revision in the notice so that academics residing in Nepal or abroad are eligible to compete. A new notice would be issued on Saturday removing the provision of three years experience.

The new provision, according to Dahal’s secretariat, would open the door for the appointment of competent leadership at the country's oldest and largest varsity. Dr Dharma Kant Banskota retired as the vice-chancellor in the first week of November and it took two months for the government to call the applications for his successor. Shiva Lal Bhusal has been leading the TU as the acting vice-chancellor.

Though Dahal supporters have hailed the open call for applications, experts call it a tested and failed formula. In 2019, a search committee led by Giriraj Mani Pokharel, then minister for education, solicited similar applications for the vice-chancellors in six universities other than TU. Along with their curriculum vitae, the applicants also had presented their vision papers and work plans. But the selection, ultimately, was done based on the political sharing among the major parties.

The universities’ laws authorise the prime minister, as an ex-officio chancellor, to appoint vice-chancellors from among the three names recommended by the search committees. It is up to the search committees how they recommend the three names.

Min Bahadur Bista, a professor at Tribhuvan University who is experienced in the education sector in Nepal and abroad, said there are slim chances that the minister-led search committee would pick the vice-chancellor independently.

“Going by history, there is ample reason to doubt that there would be the right selection even this time,” he told the Post. “The present process of selecting the vice-chancellors must change.”

Bista said if Dahal really wanted fair selection, he could have formed an independent search committee to pick candidates.

Bista finds a problem in the notice which he believes doesn’t appeal to the academics with high competency and integrity. “The vacancy notice is bureaucratic. Call for vice-chancellor positions should be different from other vacancy announcements,” he said.

Those who have already been on such a search committee agree with Bista. Usha Jha, a former member of the National Planning Commission who was in the Pokharel-led committee, said there is a problem with the committee’s formation.

“It is a given that a candidate recommended by the search committee has obligations to it,” Jha told the Post. “Those recommended by the search committee cannot work independently even if they are competent. It is, therefore, necessary to have a law which makes open competition mandatory.”

Experts say the vice-chancellor’s position demands different qualities. One needs to be academically sound, must have managerial and leadership skills and good at coordination to qualify for the position, according to Bista.

“The vice-chancellor also needs to have a good network nationally and internationally so that s/he can generate resources. Selection of right candidates is necessary to bring the university on track,” he said.