vadodara ms university msu has formed a mammothsized computer expert committee to frame rules and regulations related to purchase of computers for the university system this committee which has 11 members will now suggest the process for purchasing computers set the technical configurations for buying computers for the university where computer purchase has always remained a controversial issue in fact the decision to form the computer expert committee was taken after the floor of the syndicate turned into a highly divided house where even voting took place the interest of syndicate members in purchasing computers a nonacademic issue can be gauged from the fact that the members devoted maximum time in discussing a proposal to purchase just 20 computers for the university head office in fact computer purchase and taking disciplinary action against a teacher a proposal which was not on agenda consumed maximum time of syndicate members during the last meeting instead of discussion of academic issues computer purchase was just one of the 30 proposals of the purchase committee in the voting on proposal to refer the matter to the computer expert committee three members dissented while six members voted in favour and six others abstained msu vicechancellor professor yogesh singh took a neutral stand a member of the purchase committee had written a letter with the proposal to purchase 20 computers requesting to streamline the process to purchase computers in his letter the member had pointed out that the university should give equal opportunity to all brands to quote in order to compare the product equally and transparently every year the university purchases a huge number of desktops laptops servers and many other it related hardware and product and accessories there should be a centralised technical and purchase committee to buy computers in the university as is the practice followed across all the public and private sector companies the letter says for bulk purchase the university should directly contact the threefour best computer makers to negotiate instead buying through the vendors many wellknown companies place the order directly with the company thereby getting the best possibly price the letter further mentions the computer expert committee now formed by the university has head of civil engineering department h m patel as convener apart from four syndicate members two members from department of computer science of faculty of technology and engineering three outside experts and coordinator of bca programme as members