Good response to UGC proposal

The proposal envisages granting 8220;academic freedom8221; to the colleges that maintain a high standard of education and show consistent results in examinations. It would give the college authorities a free hand in preparing syllabi, setting examination dates, giving a specific orientation to the kind of question papers set for examinations etc.

The proposal is aimed at doing away with stagnation, red-tapism and bureaucracy that plagues many universities. Citing examples of stagnation, Dr Gautam says, 8220;In many universities, the syllabi is hardly revised, the re-evaluation of answer sheets takes months and the question papers are the same every year. If individual colleges take responsibility for the same, the situation will certainly improve.8221;

Whether it does or not is another story. But this does not undermine the fact that the proposal has received 8220;overwhelming response8221; from several universities. Says Gautam, 8220;For instance, the Maharashtra State University has shown tremendous interest in granting autonomy to its colleges. They are even willing to change the University Act to accommodate the principles of autonomy.8221;