UGC gives Chowpatty’s 185-year-old Wilson College autonomous status

UGC grants the autonomous status, valid for 10 years, based on a college’s academic record, infrastructure, research activities, faculty and innovative teaching methods. Wilson College is Mumbai University’s 46rd college to get this status.

MUMBAI: The 185-year-old Wilson College in Mumbai’s Chowpatty has become the 46th institute affiliated with the University of Mumbai (MU) to be awarded the autonomous status, according to a communication by the University Grants Commission to the college management on Wednesday.

Wilson College in Mumbai’s Chopatty said it took the college less than a year to get UGC approval for the prestigious autonomous status.

“As per the decision of the standing committee constituted by UGC, in its meeting held on October 22, the competent authority has decided to grant autonomous status to Wilson College, Chowpatty, affiliated with University of Mumbai for a period of ten years from 2021-2022 to 2030-31 academic years,” the higher education regulator said in its letter.

UGC grants the autonomous status, valid for 10 years, based on a college’s academic record, infrastructure, research activities, faculty and innovative teaching methods.

Academic autonomy will allow Wilson College to design its own curricula and hold its exams in senior college courses. The college faculty can also design the curriculum instead of following the syllabus laid down by Mumbai University. The students will continue to get their degrees from MU.

“We are thrilled to have received this honour,” said T Shiware, director education, John Wilson Education Society that runs the college.

The college said it took them less than a year to get approvals for the prestigious status.

“Our application went online earlier this year and while Covid-19 delayed some of the processes, UGC appointed committee visited in October this year,” Shiware added.

As reported by HT, UGC recently amended its regulations for conferring autonomous status that makes it simpler for colleges to apply for autonomy. The number of colleges granted autonomous status in the city has gone up from 35 colleges in February 2020 to 45 in October 2021.

“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 directly approach UGC. “This cuts down the process time by more than half, helping more and more colleges to seek 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 also encouraged ‘A’ grade accredited colleges to apply for autonomy and handed over the reins of academic growth to the institutes themselves.

UGC earlier said colleges that get ‘A’ grade in three consecutive National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) cycles should be awarded autonomous status. The new guidelines also said that 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.