Chennai : Accountability of educational institutions in delivering quality service is as important as autonomy, said V. S. Prasad, Director of National Assessment and Accreditation Council, here on Friday.

A system of governance that allows both autonomy and accountability to co-exist is needed, Mr. Prasad said at the inauguration of a seminar on governance and quality management in higher education.

The academic said that governance in universities got translated into interfaces with three stakeholders: Government, Market and Civil Society. Managing these influences in the right way was crucial for democratic and efficient delivery of education, he said.

The University of Madras efforts to ensure accountability would be showcased as best practices for universities across the country, the NAAC Director said. Madras University Vice-Chancellor S. P. Thyagarajan said that delivery of quality education was possible only through quality teachers. The availability of information and communication technology should be used to improve teaching methods.

Phasing out affiliation

V. C. Kulandaiswamy, veteran educationist and former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, called for phasing out the system of affiliating colleges, as their academic administration was a burden to universities. Good colleges could be upgraded into autonomous institutions.

"In case colleges do not qualify to be autonomous or deemed universities by 2015, a five-year scheme must be prepared to transform them into junior colleges offering job-oriented diploma programmes after Plus-Two. The affiliating system must cease to exist after 2020," Mr. Kulandaiswamy said. "Education should be transferred from college compounds to university campuses." The country might require 2,000 university-level institutions by 2020, he said.

The educationist also stressed the need for research on university campuses, as they have a constant flow of young minds, who can come up with new ideas.

Support for research

K. Aludiapillai, former Vice-Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University, said that the 150th year celebration would be a good occasion to institute `Presidential scholarships'. Selected scholars should be given substantial fellowships to pursue research. He urged the University of Madras to persuade the University Grants Commission to help with the funding for such fellowships.

"The educational cess that the Centre collects could be used to restructure the entire education system. Political will and academic support are needed for this," he said.

The valedictory session of the seminar was held on Saturday.

V. Ponraj, Director of Technology Interface, President's Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhavan, spoke on the convergence of technical fields. "Biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology are converging to bring new products such as biosensor chips," Mr. Ponraj said. Nanotechnology, particularly, would create millions of jobs in the next 10 years, he predicted. He also called for strengthening the primary education system so that higher education institutions would receive quality input.

Madras University Registrar Anne Mary Fernandez said that quality in today's context came to represent customer satisfaction. While parents are willing to pay for popular courses, government support is required to encourage basic sciences' students who are important to improve the social capital of a nation.

Participants from affiliated colleges and autonomous institutions participated in the two-day seminar sponsored by NAAC and held at Madras University.

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