Six colleges await MU nod for autonomy

MUMBAI: The applications of six city colleges seeking autonomous status from the University of Mumbai (MU) have been lying untouched, almost six months after the

MUMBAI: The applications of six city colleges seeking autonomous status from the University of Mumbai (MU) have been lying untouched, almost six months after the proposals were submitted. While colleges are still waiting to hear from the university, MU officials hope that the Maharashtra Public Universities Bill (2015) will be cleared during the winter session of the state legislature so that the committee that looks at the applications for autonomy can be formed.

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Mithibai College in Vile Parle, SK Somaiya College in Vidya Vihar and SIES College in Sion, are among the colleges that have applied for autonomy .“Colleges have been applying since April 2016 and all of six applications are still pending as of now. The university needs to set up Local Inquiry Committees (LICs) in order to verify and scrutinise the applications and personally check colleges, but there’s not enough manpower at present,” said a senior official from the university.

According to the process that colleges need to follow for autonomy, a college with consistent ‘A’ grades in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) can submit their proposal to the Board of College and University Development (BCUD). This proposal is verified and sent to the university’s academic council, which sets up an LIC to verify the proposal by visiting the college campus. A report by the LIC is submitted to the BCUD and the academic council, following which the report is sent to the state government.

The state government then sends the proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the final call. The entire process, if followed on time, doesn’t take more than eight-nine months.

“We are yet to hear from the university about the status of our proposal which was submitted in June this year. We have already started working on the new curriculum and hope to apply for autonomy from the beginning of next academic year,” said Rajpal Hande, principal of Mithibai College. He added that all their teaching staff is already undergoing training to upgrade their knowledge about the subjects, which have been designed to make them more industry-friendly.