The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : State for more varsities with autonomy

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

State for more varsities with autonomy

Special Correspondent

Cooperation of teachers and parents needed to improve the quality of higher education: Minister
“Latest teaching methodologies must be adopted”

CHENNAI: The State Government favours setting up of more universities with their own system of education and evaluation, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said on Friday.

Inaugurating a two-day seminar on ‘Innovations in higher education–quality enhancement and sustenance,’ organised by the Women’s Christian College, he said that though the government wanted to create more universities, there was resistance, not from politicians, but from academics who feared that they would lose their control over colleges. Recently Anna University was trifurcated in the face of a stiff resistance.

He said higher education faced many problems: improving quality, stopping commercialisation and establishing social justice. Though many committees of experts made recommendations to improve quality, these could not be implemented owing to social conditions. At present there was no uniform internal assessment, and the system, especially in arts and science colleges, differed from college to college. It would be easy to improve quantity, but what was required was the cooperation of teachers and parents. The latest methodologies should be included in teaching, and teachers had to be trained and re-trained, he said.

S. Ramachandran, Vice Chancellor of the University of Madras, in his keynote address, stressed the need for sustaining quality in higher education to face global challenges. To improve the quality, the university had introduced choice-based credit system. Students were being imparted soft and professional skills, besides being trained in industries as internees. Some of the innovations introduced for quality enhancement would be extended throughout the State with the government’s support.

Former Anna University Vice-Chancellor V.C. Kulandaiswamy said that unless the structure and system of governance is changed, it would be impossible to establish a higher education system comparable to world standards.

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