Visva-Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has said the sliding down of the central institute in the NIRF ranking can be attributed to factors such as misuse of the university by a section of employees and gradual deviation from the ethos of Rabindranath Tagore who founded it in 1921.
In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking released recently, the Visva-Bharati slipped from the 37th position to 50th.
In statements written in English and Bengali, Mr. Chakraborty said since 2016, the institute''s ranking has been gradually declining and "attributing the blame to the university authorities is an ineffectual, though easy move" when all stakeholders have a role to ensure its yearly academic output and rich legacy is kept intact.
"Visva Bharati is the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs for everybody students, teachers, the local businessmen, the toto (e-rickshaw) drivers, the journalists and other stakeholders. What is required is to take care of the goose instead of contributing to its slow demise, he said.
Mr. Chakraborty, who took over as the VC in 2018, had also claimed on February 21 that a section of people are using the central university "as the goose which lays golden eggs". He had also said that the university is going through a financial crisis and "is in ventilation".
In the statements, he listed instances of alleged financial irregularities that he tried to address, and a number of agitations of the employees raising demands which, he said, unjustified.
He said this is the first list of what he believes has led to Visva-Bharatis fall in public perception in the recent past and the institute is "perhaps one of those rare seats of learning which has a great legacy and yet is distinctly famous for all the wrong reasons".
Mr. Chakraborty said since he took over as VC, he had attempted to "rectify the deviation of the university from well-established rules and regulations," the deviations which created a not so favourable impression about the institute among the public.
"And the VC possesses no magic wand with which to erase decades of systematic deviation from the practices supportive of the Rabindrik (Tagorean) Ethos and the 1951 Visva Bharati Acts and Statutes," Chakraborty said.
He also sought the support of the institute's well- wishers "so that we may collectively address the easily identifiable lacunae in its functioning".
