The autonomy debate has divided the academia in the State.
Experts echoed a variety of views ranging from “autonomy is not a magic wand” to saying it will bring “accountability and enhance quality of teaching learning process” in colleges and universities on Sunday.
“Autonomy without democratisation would vitiate the academic atmosphere. There should be democratic participation of teachers and students in the governing structure. Autonomy will not succeed without democratisation. We need to ensure active and creative participation of the stakeholders. Academic autonomy should not also result in dilution of standards in teaching, learning and research on the campuses,” said K.N. Panikkar, renowned academic and former vice-chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
N.R. Madhava Menon, renowned legal educationist and chairman of the Committee on Autonomy for Institutions of Higher Education in the State, pointed out that autonomy will bring quality improvement and accountability in higher education. “Autonomy is linked with accountability. Teachers, researchers, learners, administration will have a responsibility towards the society. The autonomous status also gives colleges an opportunity to become a university eventually instead of being part of the university affiliating system,” he said.
Explaining that the actual agenda behind promotion of autonomous colleges is to set aside the university’s regulatory control over teaching research and evaluation, Rajan Gurukkal, noted historian and former Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, said that it will only enhance the prevailing laxity in teaching in government colleges owing to the under-staffed situation.
“Though the material infrastructure may improve, granting autonomy to a government college is just to mask the real agenda, which to proliferate autonomous colleges in the private sector. The ideal thing is allowing cluster colleges rather than creating individual autonomous colleges,” he said.
T.P. Sreenivasan, vice-chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, said that autonomy is yielding excellent results among colleges that got the recognition from the University Grants Commission.
“A yearly review by the council found no lapses in the academic and administrative affairs of the autonomous colleges in the State. A dramatic improvement is visible, with many publishing their results on record time,” he said.
