Moving away from the accepted convention of inking Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with foreign universities, 10 State universities in Tamil Nadu are working together on an Inter-University Co-operation Agreement.
The basic premise of co-operation is to share resources, material and human resources among the universities which have excellent faculty and state-of-the-art equipment and resources but function mostly in isolation at present.
The institutions that have agreed in principle to be signatories of the co-operation agreement are University of Madras, Anna University, Anna University of Technology, Chennai, Indian Maritime University, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Tamil Nadu Physical Education University, Tamil Nadu Teachers' Education University, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.
Explaining the concept behind the agreement, University of Madras vice-chancellor G. Thiruvasagam said the objective was to encourage inter-disciplinary approach in higher education.
“In most of the universities, more than half of the MoUs are inactive due to various reasons. In the case of a tie-up with foreign institutions, exchange of students and faculty, and other resources cannot be ensured beyond a certain level. But when the institution is within the State, access is easy for all stakeholders concerned,” says the vice-chancellor. The objective is to share and optimally utilise the resources for the benefit of all stakeholders.
According to a draft of the agreement, the main areas of co-operation will include collaboration in curriculum, sharing of infrastructure and faculty, taking up joint research projects, conduct of joint seminars, workshops, and any other type of collaboration, to meet the objectives of the agreement.
The idea for the co-operation among the State universities was conceived many months ago and the vice-chancellors of seven participating universities had a brainstorming session for over three hours to give effect to a draft agreement. Now, the draft has been sent to all partner universities for inclusions and deletions.
“The era of super-specialisation with focus on one particular discipline is passe. The research focus is more on inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach,” says V. Vijayakumar, vice-chancellor, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University. “Studying law, a student can't function in isolation. The entire IPR regime revolves around inventions in science and technology,” he points out.
“The initiative will turn out to be good if competently executed,” says P. Murugesa Boopathi, vice-chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). The TNAU has set up a high-level technical committee to work on the details of co-operation. “It is indeed a difficult task as there is too much heterogeneity among the partnering universities in terms of disciplines as well as the duration of the degree or other programmes. Once the committee finalises the finer details, it will be presented for Syndicate approval,” he says.
According to him, the MoU will be of immense advantage to students, research scholars and faculty members because they will have an opportunity to use the facilities of the partner institutions without any difficulty. “So much money has gone into setting up of libraries, laboratories and specialised equipment in all these universities. The MoU will ensure all these are put to maximum use,” he says.
Naturally, the primary focus of co-operation will be on research through creation of joint research programmes, mobilising doctoral and post-doctoral fellows, inter-disciplinary approach towards research and joint submission of common research topics to obtain funding.
The agreement of co-operation, initially for a period of five years and with a mid-term review after 30 months, must be approved by the governing/statutory bodies of the participating institutions to come into effect.
