With the delay in admissions, the legal tangle of best-five, and colleges getting autonomy, a lot has been happening in the field of higher education in the past few months. A staunch supporter of educational reforms, Suhas Pednekar, principal of Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, speaks to DNA about how these factors have affected the field of higher education and what remains to be done.
How will the delay in admissions affect the college?
The government really should think twice before introducing a new policy when the admission season is near. Admissions have been delayed twice in a row now — first due to the percentile system and this year due to the debate over best-five policy. A delay in admissions severely affects the academic year of colleges. Our teachers have to speed up the teaching process and try to cram the syllabus in a limited time. Sometimes, exams are cancelled, extra classes taken, and even holidays revoked to finish the syllabus. This is not the right way for children to learn in the first year of their college life, it gives them a bad impression of the college. Their first year gets wasted in keeping pace with teachers while they miss out on extra-curricular activities that colleges offer.
What according to you are the challenges in higher education?
There is an urgent need to bring in educational reforms in higher education. It is about time we implement a credit system of evaluation along with semester and grades so that we can compete with international universities. Assessment should be continuous and not based on a few
end-of-the-term exams. The syllabus across streams needs to be upgraded to improve employability of
students.Finally, more research components in higher education are the need of the day.
Ramnarain Ruia had applied for autonomy two years ago, what changes can be brought in if you get it?
We applied for autonomy two years ago. Autonomy will help us get more academic freedom and will mean that we can set our own curricula and syllabi. We can change to continuous assessment rather than have students write just one exam at the end of the year. Autonomy will help merge interdisciplinary courses. For example, science students will be able to take arts credits and vice versa. The introduction of autonomy is also a plus point because the college will have the freedom to explore tie-ups within and outside India.
The disadvantages of autonomy?
The major challenge will be that colleges may be unable to deliver what they promise. If autonomy fails, they will be left neither here nor there, since they have broken away, academically if not financially, from the university. This means that the college can lose students easily, so we take it as a challenge.
Which are the most popular
courses today?
Apart from mainstream arts, commerce and science, there is an increasing demand for vocational courses as they provide direct entry into the job market. We have focused on vocational courses which will help students at the professional level as well. The courses that are taught now are sometimes outdated, so we plan to give students elective subjects. Courses like biotechnology, nanotechnology and green chemistry are on the cards. We are also looking at introducing research components, to encourage both students and teachers to participate in research and keep themselves updated with the latest happenings.
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