It’s not just students who win awards and laurels, but also the faculty. This trend has caught up among colleges in Coimbatore, which honour not only in-house faculty but also those from other institutions.
Colleges call for applications from faculty, scrutinise their applications by engaging experts and academics from other institutions, evaluate and honour them with awards. This is a welcome move, says P. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, Amrita University.
But, institutions should not just stop with honouring faculty with awards. They should create an atmosphere where faculty earn their awards and also tenure in colleges, as in the U.S. There, faculty earn their tenure and have it extended through academic merit.
Through a transparent process, the faculty should be evaluated for excellence and then rewarded.
This will translate into improvement in quality of teaching because students will want to choose courses by only those faculty who had won awards. And, other faculty members will be naturally forced to improve their academic performance, he adds.
The Nehru Group of Institutions has instituted the ‘Shri P.K. Das Memorial Best Faculty Award and Lifetime Achievement Award 2014’. The College Secretary P. Krishna Kumar says that the award is to promote excellence in education. This is the fifth year of the college honouring faculty, including those from other institutions.
K. Velayudham, a TNAU faculty, recently won the ISA Fellow award, says a release from the institution. He was the recipient of Best Teacher Award in 2000, Best Extension Scientist in 2004 and Best Team Researcher in 2007.
R. Manikandan of NGM College, Pollachi, has won the Nethrodaya Best Role Model Award 2014. A visually challenged professor of commerce, this is his eighth award, says a release from the college.