KJ Somaiya college may get autonomy

Somaiya Vidyavihar, which concluded its golden jubilee celebrations on Thursday, has applied for autonomy for its management institute, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, and plans to apply for several of its other institutes too.

The state’s higher and technical education department has said that it will hasten the process and ensure that formalities are completed by 2011.

“We had applied for autonomy for our management institute last year. We intend to apply for autonomy for our engineering, arts, science and commerce colleges, colleges of education and journalism and spiritual centres, within three months,” said Samir Somaiya, vice president of the Somaiya Trust.

While the state has given emphasis to autonomy, colleges have largely shied away from it. The process of getting autonomy is usually very time-consuming. After the university approves the application, it goes to the state and finally to the university grants commission (UGC).

However, state higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope said that there will be no delays. “Autonomy gives colleges the freedom to make their syllabi globally competitive. We will ensure that all of the formalities are completed by by 2011,” he said.

St Xavier’s College and Sardar Patel Engineering College recently got academic autonomy.