Vadodara Varsity looks to smaller departments for NAAC rating and glory

VADODARA, OCT 24: The bigger faculties in M S University (MSU) might dominate activities on the campus, but when it comes to what matters ...

VADODARA, OCT 24: The bigger faculties in M S University (MSU) might dominate activities on the campus, but when it comes to what matters it is the smaller ones that shine. Out here, the smaller faculties, including Social Work, Fine Arts, Home Science, Management Studies as well as Journalism and Communication, that the university is looking up to for its National Accredition and Assessment Council (NAAC) rating.

A NAAC team is expected to visit the university during December this year. Self-assessment reports of various faculties have already been prepared for the purpose. And what has stood out is that it is the smaller faculties — scattered outside the main campus — that were the first to complete the job.

A manageable strength of students, research work, academic projects, publications and infrastructure makes these faculties shine, say academicians. These faculties have excellent reputations and attract students from other parts of the country, they add.

MSU Pro-Vice Chancellor V D Pathak says, “These faculties are like jewels in the crown of our University. They are small in size, but have brought glory to MSU. They are likely to play a key role for the NAAC rating.” According to Pathak, all the faculties had filed their reports and after compiling them, the University will invite a NAAC team to visit the faculty.

Commenting on the issue, syndicate member and officiating dean of the Faculty of Home Science, Anupama Shah, says, “These faculties have kept up the standard even as education in other faculties has deteriorated due to the ever-rising strength. Numerous publications as well as major research work is brought out from the faculties, which get the lion’s share of projects granted to the university.”

However, Shah points out that the success of these faculties was not only due to the small number of students. “It is a matter of regularity — in class work, practicals as well as tests. For instance, at the Faculty of Home Science not a single student remains without work on any given day,” she says. The Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhruva Mistry, says, the “teacher-student ratio is better” in these faculties — another reason why they do so well.

MSU Vice-Chancellor Anil Kane believes larger faculties have “become unmanageable due to the large number of students and smaller faculties have an advantage in this matter.” Kane, however, points out that other faculties too have been doing well despite “their limitations.” “We have qualified teachers as well as good research projects which are under way. National-level seminars and events have been organised and some departments have performed well,” he says.

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Meanwhile, a University team is finalising the NAAC report. Mock visits are being conducted to various faculties and data collected from surveys conducted among students as well as parents is being analysed.

The size factor, however, still stands. As Fine Arts Dean puts it, “These faculties are like salt in food. The amount may be small, but the University would not be what it is without them.”