Issue over Granting Autonomy to Colleges

What is the issue?

• A proposal by Delhi University’s prestigious St Stephen’s College to seek autonomy has triggered protests.
• Both teachers and students of the college gathering outside the principal’s office and demanded that they must be consulted before making any such move.

What do the UGC guidelines to grant autonomy say?

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) released a new set of guidelines for autonomous colleges in November 2016.
• According to the guidelines, the current system, in which many colleges are affiliated to one university and are dependent on it, is clumsy.
• The guidelines say that it is becoming difficult for one university to meet the needs of several colleges.
• The colleges do not get any freedom to set syllabi or start new courses.
• Also, the degrees awarded to students of most colleges (that don’t have autonomy) currently contain only the name of the university, and not that of the college.

Which colleges are eligible for autonomy?

• Colleges that have been granted at least a ‘B’ ranking by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council are eligible to apply. 
• UGC will also take into account academic achievements of the faculty, infrastructure, and financial resources of the institution.
• The UGC will give funding for additional needs such as guest faculty, orientation and retraining of teachers, redesigning courses, development of teaching material etc.,

What the new guidelines say?

• Under the new guidelines, the university’s main role will be that of facilitator.
• It will focus on promoting academic freedom in colleges, help start new courses, and ensure that degrees/ certificates issued indicate the name of the college.
• The university will not have much say in teaching methodology, examination, evaluation and course curriculum.

Why teachers oppose the idea?

• Teachers have alleged that the push for autonomy is a sinister move towards privatisation of education.
• Autonomous colleges will be asked to fund part of their expenditure, and this will force colleges to introduce self-financing courses that are geared towards getting jobs.
• Students who study these courses will be forced to take a loan as these professional courses are more expensive.
• Concerns have been raised also about the kind of academic and cultural freedom that an autonomous college can give to teachers and students.

Source: The Indian Express