Principal of various states and central universities of the country were gathered in an orientation program organized by the UGC on the issues of the autonomous colleges. According to the sources, the Principals of the DU were assured that autonomy will not affect the funding of the colleges.
In the meeting K K Sharma, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and UGC Chairman V S Chauhan were present.
“They explained the Autonomous College Scheme and clarified that there will be no impact on the funds. They said we will continue to get the same funding as weʼre getting now. Colleges will get autonomy to start their own courses, formulate their own syllabus and hold their own examinations. The results will be declared by the university. Also, on the degree, the name of the college will be mentioned although it will be given by the university,” said S K Garg, Principal of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.
Garg said that colleges which are given Grade ‘A’ by the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) are eligible to apply for the autonomous status. But according to other principals there was a lot of confusion about the implementation of autonomy policy and authorities could answer the questions posed by the principals.
“They said colleges which have one stream will get Rs 9 lakh as funding annually, those who have two-three streams would get somewhere around Rs 15 lakh. The money isn’t enough… On the one hand they say colleges will get autonomy to frame their own syllabus, but on the other hand they have also implemented CBCS (Choice-Based Credit System) which gives a uniform syllabus for all colleges,” a DU principal said.
However, DTUA teachers are against the autonomy policy because this could have “very adverse effects on the service conditions of teachers and karamcharis, besides making quality public education unaffordable for large sections of people”.
