The Syndicate of the University of Madras has resolved to increase the number of faculty members in its Institute of Distance Education (IDE). The university will shift one faculty member from each of its departments to the IDE, in order to run the programmes.
The IDE, a revenue generator for the university, had been under stress for the past several years.
The admission rate dropped significantly over the years and the recent introduction of stringent norms by the University Grants Commission added to its woes.
Permission from AICTE
The UGC’s instruction to the universities, to seek permission of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), to offer MBA and MCA programmes, has now forced the university to abandon the programmes. Recently, the UGC notified that it recognised only two programmes.
The Politics and Public Administration department had sufficient faculty and was permitted to offer three courses. As much as 95% of the total enrolment in the IDE are in 12 subjects, including management studies, commerce, computer science, English, Tamil, criminology, politics and public administration, mathematics, history, economics, psychology and yoga.
The UGC has given a month’s time to the university to improve its faculty strength to retain the distance education programme.
“We have 11 faculty members in most of the subjects, from which we will transfer one or two and comply with the UGC requirement. With faculty in place, we will get recognition for five years to run the courses. Meanwhile, we will recruit the required faculty,” said a member.
On Thursday, the Syndicate decided to transfer six to seven faculty members from regular departments to the IDE. “They will be sent back to their regular departments within three to six months, after recruiting faculty for the IDE,” the member added.
“In about 15 courses, the enrolment is less than 100. We will consider reintroducing these courses at a later stage, if there is demand. Besides, for each subject, we have to appoint two faculty members and it is not feasible to conduct a programme with low enrolment,” an official pointed out.
The Syndicate also decided to implement the 7th Pay Commission.
