Chennai: The Government of Tamil Nadu is planning to setup a common recruitment system for recruiting university staff members, on the lines of the Teachers Recruitment Board.

This system will recruit teaching and non-teaching staff of the state universities. This was announced by state education minister K. Ponmudy.

The proposal was discussed during the Tuesday's meeting of university Vice-Chancellors along with the officials from the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education and the Higher Education Department.

Higher Education Secretary K. Ganeshan said that the proposal will co-ordinate university recruitments.

"Selection process varies from university to university. We have also received complaints that several universities are not strictly following the rotation system", Ganeshan said.

The state government has expressed hope that a common recruitment system will bring transparency in the recruitment process.

"To implement the proposal, the University Establishment Act needs to be amended and permission of the University Grants Commission (UGC) is required. If the plan is approved, the second phase may be to create an umbrella body for recruitment of teachers in government and aided colleges as well as the universities", said one of the Vice-chancellors.

Anna University is planning to have its own system to co-ordinate staff recruitment for all its affiliated colleges. University Vice-Chancellor R. Radhakrishnan said, "The university's inspectors would categorize the existing faculty of the affiliated colleges and work out the overall vacancy situation for the next month".