By Mehboob Inamdar
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: With the passage of time, more and more senior colleges are seeking ‘Autonomous Status’ in the district to have the freedom to design industry-needed courses and complete them on time.
It may be noted that there is a rising number of colleges within the jurisdiction of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu). There are 170 colleges in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
As per the University Grants Commission (UGC)’s document on higher education, the only safe and better way to improve the quality of undergraduate education is to delink most of the colleges from the affiliating structure. Currently, the affiliated colleges remain dependent solely on the university for designing syllabus, approval and conducting examinations. They cannot design or revise their courses as per the requirements in the market. The UGC adopted the policy of giving autonomous status to the colleges.
According to academicians and experts from higher education, some more private colleges would seek autonomy in the next few years.
For the first time in the university’s history, five colleges of the district have secured ‘Autonomous Status’ in recent times. They are Government College of Engineering, MIT, Deogiri College, Deogiri Institute of Engineering and Management Studies and Y B Chavan College of Pharmacy (YBCCP). The autonomous status for the colleges enables them to run their own affairs, including curriculum and examinations. This allows colleges to tailor their courses to specific needs and adapt to evolving industry requirements.
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Providing options for facilities for students
Talking to this newspaper, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bamu Dr Walmik Sarwade said that the UGC, State Government and Bamu are providing options of facilities for colleges and students. “Those colleges which have A-plus and above grades from NAAC are eligible for seeking autonomy, which is beneficial for both the university and colleges,” he added.
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New skills courses can be designed; dependency on varsity reduced
Principal of YBCCP Dehghan M H said that autonomous colleges, which are still affiliated with a university and bound by some general regulations, have greater flexibility in their academic and administrative processes.
“This allows a college to design new skills courses to specific needs and adapt to evolving industry requirements. An autonomous college can conduct examinations, assessment and announcement of results on time with Autonomous Status, thus dependency on affiliating University will be curtailed to only awarding degree certificates,” he added.