The University Grants Commission has renewed their guidelines for autonomy which requires colleges applying for autonomy to reapply. Following this, St. Stephen’s College says that it will reapply for autonomy in the new format. This step taken by the college has been confirmed by the governing body.
Autonomy implies that the college will no longer be affiliated to the University of Delhi and will be free academically as well as monetarily. The college in its 2050 vision states : “By 2025 and certainly by 2050, St. Stephen’s should be an autonomous degree giving University with undergraduate, post-graduate, diploma and doctoral studies, starting maybe as a “deemed to be” university.
The advance of St. Stephen’s towards academic and monetary freedom was brought up in March, 2017. The decision of the administration was protested cumulatively by the students and the faculty members, on grounds that the issue was not consulted with the primary stakeholders before being concluded. The members asked for a transparent procedure and proper consultation with the stakeholders and adjudged that the current procedures contradicted the UGC directive that says,“There are several areas where proper preparation is necessary if college autonomy is to be implemented successfully. These are: faculty preparation, departmental preparation, institutional preparation, and preparation of students and the local community. Such multi-pronged preparation should be completed well before autonomy is sought and conferred upon a college so that no part of the college community is found unprepared for the new responsibility which it is called upon to shoulder.”
The University Grants Commision and the Human Resources Development, have further decided to hold meetings throughout the expanse of the country to dissipate the general misconceptions regarding the issue of autonomy by elucidating the scheme and the monetary concerns.
A senior UGC official spoke to Hindustan Times saying, “A number of colleges fear that autonomy will come with a cut in finances, which is clearly not the case. We want good institutes to opt for autonomy. Colleges with academic and operative freedom, do better than others and possess more credibility.”
Feature Image: DU Beat Archive
Trishala Dutta
Comments are closed.