Four Somaiya colleges head for freedom

Updated on: Saturday, May 28, 2011

The University of Mumbai’s academic council approved the proposal of academic autonomy for four colleges set up by the KJ Somaiya Group. The plan will now be presented to the management council that will meet on May 30. The Somaiya group colleges stand on a 60-acre campus stretched across Vidyavihar in the eastern suburbs. The Vidyavihar campus has 34 institutes, ranging from elementary school to junior and professional colleges. In the first phase, the officials have applied for autonomy for four Gujarati minority institutes, KJ Somaiya College of Engineering, KJ Somaiya Arts and Science College, KJ Somaiya Arts, Science and Commerce College and KJ Somaiya Science and Commerce College. “We cleared the proposal yesterday. We are encouraging autonomy. We hope to make at least 10 other colleges autonomous,” said Rajpal Hande, director of the Board of College and University Development.

If the management council gives its approval, the University Grants Commission, the apex governing body of universities, will appoint a scrutiny committee and based on its report, it will grant autonomy to the colleges. “We hope that we will get autonomy by next year. We already have our plans in place with a shadow board of studies already appointed and exam reforms too are ready to be implemented,” said Vijay Joshi, principal of KJ Somaiya College of Science and Commerce.

For the staff at the Somaiya colleges, this was a natural step forward. “The management gives a lot of freedom to principals when it comes to starting new courses. The management absolutely does not interfere in the academic side. In the three decades I have been associated with the Somiya group, I have been allowed complete freedom to exercise new academic ideas,” said K Venkatramani, a former principal.

The colleges applied for autonomy last year. The earlier norms made it mandate for
a college to first make an application to the university, which in return sent it to the state that sent it to the UGC. The process was so slow that St Xavier’s College took four years to get autonomy. Last year, the UGC tweaked the rules, allowing universities to directly forward their proposals to UGC. So far, Mumbai University has awarded academic autonomy to St Xavier’s College and Sardar Patel College.

What’s autonomy?

Academic autonomy allows a college to design its own curricula and conduct its own exams in senior college courses

What does it mean?

Fees will remain the same, but a college’s faculty can draft its curricula. The college will not be compelled to use the syllabus designed by the university. Students will get their degrees from Mumbai University but can expect better teaching a well as a thorough evaluation of papers.

Four Somaiya colleges head for freedom

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