The Hindu : Front Page : Meeting mulls over cluster colleges

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Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008
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Meeting mulls over cluster colleges

T. Ramakrishnan

Concept addresses faculty shortage
Meeting with VCs on February 19

CHENNAI: The possibility of adopting the concept of cluster colleges, allowing students to accumulate and transfer credits from one institution to another, was discussed at a high-level meeting of Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy with senior educationists on Tuesday.

As per the concept, educational institutions pool their resources to achieve resource optimisation. This will also address the issue of faculty shortage in the context of mushrooming of professional colleges.

“Today’s meeting, which went on for two and a half hours, was convened as part of the budget-making process, with a particular reference to higher education. On February 19, we will hold another meeting with Vice-Chancellors. There will be a few more meetings too,” K. Ganesan, Higher Education Secretary, told The Hindu.

Recently, the Kerala State Council for Higher Education has come out with a report on such a concept. According to it, the Kothari Commission of the 1960s mooted establishing clusters of advanced centres. The University Grants Commission has been pursuing the project of clustering higher education institutions with the objective of optimum utilisation of the existing facilities. The National Knowledge Commission has recommended that autonomous status be given to some clusters of colleges, as a part of restructuring undergraduate education. Among the educationists who took part in the meeting were V.C. Kulandaisamy, M. Anandakrishnan, S.P. Thyagarajan and M. Ponnavaiko.

Mr. Ganesan said university governance, revamping the examination system and accreditation were among the subjects discussed.

According to a participant, the Minister was keen on establishing well-developed schemes for youth in traditional areas such as motor mechanics and construction industry.

A proposal was made for devising on-the-job training programmes. Large-scale industrial units could be roped in and they could be allowed to offer diplomas. A group of educationists could provide content support.

The possibility of restoring unitary status to Anna University and alternative methods of taking care of colleges now affiliated to the university also came up for discussion.

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