An idea whose time has come

Updated on: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

After months of uncertainty, the cluster of colleges experiment initiated by the Kerala State Higher Education Council appears to be making some headway with the Thiruvananthapuram cluster coming up with a proposal for establishing a consortium of college libraries.

The incubation and infancy of this cluster — along with the one in Ernakulam and the third, soon to be formed in Kozhikode — are being keenly watched by supporters and critics of the cluster experiment. The effectiveness with which the Thiruvananthapuram cluster is able to get the consortium of libraries up and running will, in effect, be a pointer to the effectiveness with which the cluster experiment can be implemented in Kerala.

The objectives of the consortium, as detailed in the project report prepared by V. Gopakumar, Librarian of University College, Thiruvananthapuram, will be to establish a network of libraries inside the cluster, create a ‘union catalogue’ for these libraries, carry out collective subscriptions to journals and periodicals, negotiate with agencies for access to e-journals, set up an online repository for e-learning material and digitise question papers and archival material.

Once the libraries of the five constituent colleges of the Thiruvananthapuram cluster — University College, the Government Women’s College, the Government Arts College, the Sanskrit College and the Government College, Karyavattom — are networked, a student will be able to access any of these five libraries from any of these five colleges. Purchase of books will get optimised and journals can be circulated among the constituent colleges.

A union catalogue for the cluster will enable a user to find out the books available in these five libraries. But first, each college should come up with a computerised catalogue using preferably the SOUL software developed by the University Grants Commission, the project report reads. The consortium can maintain a web site where this catalogue can be shown as an online public access catalogue, the report suggests.

The report will be taken up for discussion and subsequent action once the Thiruvananthapuram cluster is formally launched in November. The cluster’s incubation has not been without its share of problems. Though the cluster experiment itself began as one which will involve both government and private colleges, there are only government colleges in the Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam clusters. But then, the frequent change in principals in government colleges soon became the first thorn in the flesh of both these clusters. Added to this was the delay caused by the labyrinthine financial procedures that had to be followed by the clusters to get the seed money given to them by the government. B.S. Mohanachandran, Principal of University College, said that when the clusters tried to present to the Treasury the cheque for Rs.1 crore given by the government, they were told that clearance would be required from the ‘ways and means’ section. For a couple of months, it had not been even clear when and whether such sanction would be coming. Eventually after interventions at the higher level, the Finance Department pegged the cut-off limit for getting ways-and-means clearance at Rs.2 crore. By then, the validity period of the initial cheques was over. This problem was solved when the higher education council issued the clusters fresh cheques. Finally, the clusters had the money to get them going. That was when they faced their next hurdle.
Collectivity

For many decades now, academics had become used to thinking in terms of ‘our college’ and ‘their college.’ The ‘individuality’ of one college was what set it apart from another. Now, suddenly, ‘competition’ is being sought to be replaced by ‘collaboration’ and ‘individuality’ is being asked to make way for ‘collectivity.’ Prof. Mohanachandran said the clusters were now organising seminars and discussions so that teachers and students could get oriented to the new concept and mode of operation of the cluster. “This is a new concept and it will take time to catch on,” Thomas Joseph, member secretary of the council, said. Initially, when constituent colleges were asked to draw up proposals for the clusters, they came up with schemes to establish new facilities in individual colleges. “They had to be told that whatever they set up or built had to be such that it would be of use to the entire cluster and not just to the students of one college,” Prof. Joseph said. The council expects that the clusters will have a crucial role to play in the higher education section now that degree courses are going to function under the credit-and-semester system.

An idea whose time has come

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