The Tamil Nadu Government's decision to disband the region-based Anna Universities of Technology (AUT) could not have come at a better time, as, otherwise, the quality of engineering education would have deteriorated further, managements of affiliated engineering colleges believe.
No doubt, the universities were created for decentralising administration and fostering a healthy and competitive academic climate through the advantage of geographical proximity to affiliated colleges. But, the purpose for which they were started has been defeated, as is evident in the rather poor quality of administration, principals point out. Barring the Anna University of Technology - Tiruchi (AUT-T), the other technical universities have been functioning from borrowed buildings.
The Anna University of Technology - Tiruchi (AUT-T) has simply failed to win the trust of its affiliated colleges due to apparent arbitrariness in handling crucial matters such as faculty and other appointments, awarding Ph.D. degrees, and issues that warrant financial discipline. The AUT-T has, in fact, earned the wrath of students due to a glaring shortcoming in valuation of answer scripts, and inept handling of even routine administrative issues. “Bungling” in valuation even drove a few students belonging to a couple of affiliated engineering colleges into committing suicide last year. In a bid to complete the examination process in time, the AUT-T overburdened teachers at the time of valuation, and that is perceived to be the cause for improper awarding of marks, according to M.A.M. Maluk Mohamed, principal, MAM College of Engineering in Tiruchi district.
“Failure of students who were admitted with impressive Plus Two scores is just not acceptable. The obvious let-up in valuation has dealt a tremendous blow to their confidence level. Since most of the top-notch companies prefer to recruit candidates without any record of arrears, the university has wreaked havoc with the careers of studious students,” said P. Selvaraj, chairman, Shivani Group of Institutions. He, like many others, is delighted about engineering colleges getting into the fold of Anna University, Chennai, again.
The vice-chancellor of AUT-T, P. Devadass Manoharan, however, reasons out that failure of hitherto bright students need not be a surprise, since rote learning that they have been exposed to in school education does not suffice when they step into the higher education system.
Principals are not prepared to buy this reasoning as the trend of excessive failures was not uniform; it was concentrated in a select few colleges which, incidentally, were not in the good books of the university, said Mr. Selvaraj.
Reputation and far-sightedness of vice-chancellors have a direct bearing on the quality of higher education, explains P.S. Manisundaram, who was in the four-member committee that decided on the formation of Anna University when the late M.G. Ramachandran was the Chief Minister. After a thorough discussion for two days, the committee decided that it will be a unitary university with four institutions.
The engineering colleges were affiliated to territorial universities and it was during the late 1980s that all engineering colleges were affiliated to the Anna University. It was split into Anna Universities of Technology based in Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Coimbatore and subsequently restored its original unitary status.
Now, the Anna University, Chennai, is poised to affiliate over 500 colleges yet again. Since administration is going to be a gargantuan task, two views have surfaced on how the technical education scenario could be managed from now on with quality infusion.
One school of thought is that the engineering colleges could be brought back again into the fold of the territorial general universities. According to Prof. Manisundaram, who was the first vice-chancellor of Bharathidasan University and the first principal of the then Regional College of Engineering - Tiruchi (now National Institute of Technology), the very term “university” implies a composite character wherein excellence could be bred through inter-disciplinary approach.
There was no reason why the disciplines of even Agriculture, Law and Medicine should not be brought under a common university, he explains.
“The government should take a bold decision to have all colleges affiliated to (general) State universities.” Those opposed to this idea due to apprehensions that technology focus will be diluted in such an eventuality advocate retention of discipline-specific universities. Citing past instances, the chairman of Oxford Group of Institutions, M. Subramaniam, said it is difficult for engineering college managements to make mediocre vice-chancellors think from a technology perspective.
Mr. Subramaniam sees scope for quality enhancement in a common administrative set-up for an entire State. He emphasised that a common syllabus augurs well for dynamic evaluation. A sense of responsibility and seriousness will dawn on institutions only in a situation where the outcome of valuation is a direct result of strenuous efforts. “Things become quite predictable when valuation is carried out within regions.”
As regards administrative difficulty, principals wonder why the utility of e-governance should not begin with centralised monitoring of technical institutions for matters that have academic bearing. For routine administrative matters, the government could even think of appointing Registrars zone-wise, they suggest.
