IDOL struggling to get UGC approval
As damage control, IDOL has now appointed 14 new professors because earlier, they didn't have staff to manage work.
Mumbai: The Mumbai University’s (MU’s) Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) has not been approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) due to the examination mess in 2017 that was followed by MU losing out on the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
NAAC is an autonomous institute established by the UGC and its prime agenda is to assess and accredit institutions of higher learning with an objective to help them work continuously to improve the quality of education. In this year’s list declared by the UGC – the list of approved institutes in the state – IDOL’s name is nowhere mentioned.
As damage control, IDOL has now appointed 14 new professors because earlier, they didn’t even have staff to manage the administrative and assessment work. This year, several results were declared quite late because of the lack of staff and the problem in the assessment system.
While talking to The Asian Age, Dr Madhura Kulkarni, in-charge director, IDOL, explained, “I’ve just joined the team as a director and right now, our prime focus is to stop the lag that has been happening during and after examinations. The most important thing was the lack of staff, which is now under control as we have appointed 14 professors who can help with the work. Furthermore, we will try our best to schedule the exams properly and assess and declare the results on time so that no student is burdened by any of these.”
Apart from this, the officials of the varsity and IDOL have been constantly meeting the NAAC and UGC people for discussing things that need to be done to get the recognition back.
This year, IDOL has 68,000 students and because of the admission process still underway, more students are expected. Apart from the 14 new professors, they have 11 full-time permanent professors who look after both teaching and assessment procedure.