‘With autonomy comes freedom to change’

MUMBAI: City colleges, after receiving autonomy status from the University Grants Commission (UGC), are on a spree to change the academic structure, including the marking format and syllabus and introduce several new extra-curricular activities and skills development workshops.

Students are neutral about the changes and are facing a tough time accepting them. A total 16 colleges in the city are now functioning as autonomous institutes, with Gh-
atkopar’s Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala (RJ) newly added to the list  last week.

Dr Usha Mukundan, principal of RJ College, said, “Earlier, under the MU, we followed the 75:25 marking system format (75 marks for external exams and 25 for internal exams). However, we have now changed it to 60:40 where 60 is for theory exams and the 40 is further divided into 20:20 where 20 marks are for objective type questions and the remaining 20 left to each department to choose for their students.” The college has introduced special workshops for commerce and arts students to make them ‘job-ready’ and ‘efficient’.  Students are happy about the changes but are also facing a tough time adjusting to the new marking system, curriculum and syllabus.

4 more colleges seek freedom

At least four more colleges in the city are in line for autonomy status from the University Grants Commission (UGC). Kelkar Vaze College, Mulund, DG Ruparel of Matunga, Sophia College of Breach Candy and Birla College in Kalyan are the four colleges waiting for a nod from the UGC for autonomy. Last week, two popular colleges – SIES Sion and Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College of Ghatkopar —were granted autonomy. Colleges are now looking for academic freedom. “The idea of autonomy is freedom in all aspects covering academics. We can update the curriculum, bring more skill-oriented activities and focus on certain and specified things which will give better quality education,” said Dr Tushar Desai, principal of DG Ruparel.