Karnataka - Mysore   

`Quality, autonomy are linked'

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, SEPT. 12. The two-day national conference on "Autonomy to colleges" held here last week reinforced the correlation between quality in higher education and autonomy while strengthening the view that the affiliation system could also not be abandoned altogether.

It helped create a positive mindset in the management of institutions that wished to opt for the autonomous status by dispelling misconceptions while academics' resistant to change revised their stance.

The conference, organised by the Mahajana Educational Society and the University Grants Commission, witnessed experts from all over India deliberating on the pros and cons of autonomy to colleges.

M. Anandakrishnan, chairperson, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, made out a strong case for autonomy but cautioned against projecting it as the only means to improve the quality of higher education in the country. He pointed out that enrolment in the higher education system had registered a 10 per cent growth between 1999-2000 and 2001-02 and the number of students increased from 7.42 million to 8.82 million during the period.

Given the rate of expansion, many universities in the country were burdened with unmanageable numbers of affiliated colleges. The answer, according to Mr. Anandakrishnan, lay not in granting autonomy to all the colleges, but to have a decentralised and autonomous cluster of colleges with each cluster under the university performing the curricular development, examination, evaluation and other functions envisaged in the scheme.

Suggestion

All education policy commissions had advocated the elimination of the affiliation system and suggested replacement with an autonomous system. The fact that there were less than 200 autonomous colleges of the nearly 13,000 colleges in the country proved the impracticality of doing away with the affiliation system, he said.

An evaluation of colleges which opted for autonomy proved the positive features of the concept and the fact that most autonomous colleges secured a rating of four stars or B plus and above by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) only reinforced the view that autonomy fostered quality.

Examination system

In a paper on "Autonomous colleges in India, a review of growth, problems and prospects", Jandhyala B.G. Tilak of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, drew attention to the defective examination system, which was breaking down under its own weight. Even the University Grants Commission (UGC) had observed that the only safe way to improve the quality of undergraduate education was to de-link most of the colleges from the affiliating structure.

Mr. Tilak attributed the resistance to autonomy to the apprehensions in certain quarters that autonomous colleges would be elitist and was a step towards privatisation of higher education and reduction of the role of the State in its development. The universities did not wish to relinquish their hold over institutions while the Government was apprehensive of its role and power, he added.

He also pointed out that the colleges could devise their own admission policies. But the scheme of autonomous colleges did not provide for any change in the recruitment pattern or other service condition of teachers, including qualification, he added.

None of the autonomous colleges had become fully private till now, which had proved the critics wrong as even autonomous colleges could work under the guidance of the UGC, the university and the Government.

The benefits of autonomy to the managements included incentive grants from the UGC, control over staff and scope to devise self-financing courses to raise revenue. The benefits to the teachers included scope for innovations in teaching, curriculum design, better evaluation of students and infrastructure. And the benefits to the students included choice of credits, semester system, internal evaluation and higher employability, Mr. Tilak said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• `Quality, autonomy are linked'
• Decline in breastfeeding in urban areas
• Roads to be widened before Dasara
• Use of languages other than Kannada in churches opposed

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu