Cuttack: A day after taking charge as the new Vice-Chancellor of Madhusudan Law University in Cuttack, Prof Sibaram Tripathy Saturday laid out an ambitious roadmap to reshape legal education in Odisha, placing quality teaching, administrative reform and student employability at the centre of his vision.
Addressing the media on the university campus, Tripathy described the press as the “watchdog of society” and sought the cooperation of the media fraternity in his effort to strengthen the state’s legal education system. With more than 30 law colleges affiliated to the university, he said the task ahead was both urgent and across-the-board.
At the heart of his agenda is academic reform. Tripathy underlined the need for quality education through proper faculty recruitment, noting that the university has functioned for nearly five years without permanent faculty members. Since its elevation from a college to a university in 2021, its academic responsibilities have largely been carried out by guest faculty. He said filling this gap would be his first priority for improving the academic ambience of the campus.
He also promised administrative reforms, including a single-window clearance system to spare the students from the routine counter-hopping for basic work. Equally important, he said, is making legal education more relevant to the job market. For this, he proposed a campus placement cell linked with industries and institutions, alongside student-exchange programmes with leading law centres in the country, including the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), where he worked for over 20 years.
Prof Tripathy said the university would strive to secure a standing in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). To uphold the legacy of Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das, after whom the university is named, he announced plans for a Madhusudan Chair and a Madhusudan Legal Forum, with monthly lectures by eminent personalities.
Regular classes, completion of syllabus, strict attendance and the complete elimination of malpractice in examinations, he said, would be non-negotiable. Students lacking adequate attendance would not be allowed to fill up examination forms.
The vice-chancellor also spoke of reviving the Human Rights cell and legal aid cell, introducing a pro bono culture so that students become a voice for the voiceless, and implementing the Centre’s Karmayogi Yojana and the state government’s Shaktishree Yojana. Karmayogi Yojana.
Mission Karmayogi is the Government of India’s national programme to build a more competent, technology-enabled and citizen-centric civil service through continuous capacity development and digital learning.
Shaktishree Yojana is an Odisha government scheme aimed at strengthening women’s safety, confidence, leadership and support systems in higher educational institutions across the state.
Tripathy said the university must ensure that degrees are not merely distributed, but that its graduates become truly marketable in a competitive national landscape.
PTI