New UGC rules facilitates autonomy to seven MU colleges in past one year

The move to reduce the academic burden of University of Mumbai (MU) is an ongoing process and while the state government has already approved two cluster universities as well as the state’s first private university, more and more colleges have managed to acquire autonomous status in the past one year

The move to reduce the academic burden of University of Mumbai (MU) is an ongoing process and while the state government has already approved two cluster universities as well as the state’s first private university, more and more colleges have managed to acquire autonomous status in the past one year.

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As per information shared by MU officials, there were 35 autonomous colleges, including five university departments, under the varsity by February 2020. However, making use of the new University Grants Commission (UGC) rules, seven other colleges have managed to get the prestigious status, taking the total number to 42 at present.

“Earlier the process of autonomy was a two-step process and colleges first had to seek approval from the affiliated university before approaching UGC. But now UGC has streamlined the process, and this has encouraged more colleges to apply and achieve the autonomous status in the past one year,” said Deepak Wasave, deputy registrar, affiliation section, MU.

He added that with the change in rules approved by UGC in 2018, colleges now only need affiliation confirmation from the respective university and can then approach UGC directly. “This cuts down the process time by more than half, helping more and more colleges in seeking autonomy,” he said.

Well performing colleges were first encouraged to seek autonomy to help reduce the burden on MU, which has more than 800 affiliated colleges. The state education department encouraged more and more ‘A’ grade accredited colleges to apply for autonomy and handed over the reins of academic growth to the institutes themselves.

UGC had earlier mentioned that colleges that get ‘A’ grade in three consecutive National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) cycles should be awarded autonomous status.

The new guidelines, referred to as University Grants Commission (Conferment of Autonomous Status upon Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Autonomous Colleges) Regulations, 2018, now states that henceforth, colleges with a NAAC score of 3.51 and above shall be considered for autonomous status “without onsite visit by the expert committee” of UGC.

One of the last institutes to be awarded autonomy was KJ Somaiya Institute of Engineering & Information Technology, in March this year. “At the UGC level, things have become much more facilitative, but the process still has hurdles and delays. Even though UGC permits new courses for autonomous colleges, if such a course is not there in the affiliating university, additional steps and more processes for approval cause further delays,” said professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai, provost, Somaiya Vidyavihar.

Time and again experts have commented on the need for “full-fledged autonomy” as opposed to only academic autonomy. “There are four facets of autonomy — academic, financial, administrative and managerial. Technically, autonomy survives on these four pillars, but what colleges are getting right now is only academic autonomy, which dilutes the power of the status,” said SS Mantha, former director of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Colleges, too, have highlighted the need for more diversity in the status. “What we get is more or less autonomy in conduct of examination only. Though autonomous colleges are getting some liberty, what we need is complete autonomy,” said Naresh Chandra, principal of BK Birla College, Kalyan.

At present, autonomous colleges are allowed to design and upgrade their curriculum and to conduct examination as per their own schedule. However, the result is still certified by the university they were formerly affiliated to. “In order to initiate any new project, one needs financial backing and with that important part missing, it limits the growth of the institute,” said Mantha, adding, “The true strength of an institution in terms of what it does academically or otherwise is revealed only when they start giving out their own degree certificates, without the backing of an established university.”