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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | New Delhi
By Lakshmi B.Ghosh
NEW DELHI, NOV. 23. From the much debated issue of autonomy to revision of curriculum, the right channel of funding and appointment of Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors to the question of whether universities and colleges are responsible for preparing students for a job in the market, it happens to be a "question paper" that raises some of the most discussed points of Indian higher education. Drafted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the direction of the committee on "Autonomy of Higher Education Institutions'' set up under the chairmanship of the West Bengal Education Minister, Kanti Biswas, by the recently reconstituted Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the new questionnaire calls on all stakeholders in the education segment to present their views on the important issues. Welcoming the importance given to the need for autonomy, the University Grants Commission (UGC) points out in a statement on its website that "it assumes even greater significance when it is proved beyond doubt that autonomy in governance is one of the vital antecedent variables to bringing about qualitative improvement leading to excellence and more so when in present times institutions are increasingly facing the crisis of identity.'' Divided into three major parts, the questionnaire invites people from different sections of the academia to come forward and answer a series of questions on academic autonomy, financial autonomy and administrative autonomy as well as give their open views on the issues raised. While the academic autonomy raises important questions such as who should determine the curriculum and decide on the admission policy as well as ask them if they are happy with the existing format in their respective institutes. From the issue of intake capacity to that of management quotas and fee structures to other subjects like teaching hours and recruitment of teachers to the question of whether there should be a separate commission for the appointment of teachers like in the case of civil services have also been raised. With quality of education increasingly becoming important, the committee has also invited views on accreditation and the right way of determining an institute's quality. The issue of financial autonomy is taken up by bringing forth questions of funding. Apart from urging participants to reply on whether they would like to operate as a profit centre to enjoy full financial autonomy and whether the power of autonomy should be protected from Government, political and bureaucratic interference. Also looking into the much debated and often controversial subject of appointments for the top University posts, participants have been invited to answer whether high level positions such as Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor should be prescribed by statues in all categories of institutions. The second category raises questions of whether teachers should be allowed to devise their own syllabus, whether courses should relate to situations in the real world and if student evaluation should be decentralised, with institutes allowed to have the freedom of conducting their own examinations. From the right frequency of changing syllabi to whether it is the responsibility of colleges to prepare students for jobs, some of the other important questions thrown up are whether all institutes should be regulated according to a common set of national norms and if there should be a central commission for selecting faculty and managements should be free to transfer faculty among others.
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