Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
No new colleges that roll out only traditional courses: Patil
Minister for higher education stresses on including skill-based courses in colleges
MUMBAI: The state government will not approve any new college that promises to offer only traditional courses such as BA, B.Com and B.Sc.
Chandrakant Patil, minister for higher education, said the reason behind the decision is that “all these courses are now largely redundant; colleges need to improve coursework that is 70% traditional and 30% skillbased”.
Patil was speaking at a oneday state-level conference on accreditation: ‘The Way Forward’, hosted by the University of Mumbai in collaboration with Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
In his inaugural speech, the minister underscored that college managements should focus on improving the quality of education. “There are many colleges in the state that teach traditional courses like arts, commerce and science. So, there is no need for more such colleges. Students should also be imparted education on social service that enhances their selfconfidence and self-esteem,” said Patil.
He added that the process of recruiting assistant professors has begun, with an approval to fill 2,088 vacant posts. Currently,
there are 8,000 vacancies for the position of assistant professors.
On Friday, a meeting of the Maharashtra State Commission for Higher Education and Development was held led by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis reiterated Patil’s view, saying, “Aligning with the National Education Policy, when approvals are given to new colleges, employment-oriented course structures should be identified. Universities and affiliated colleges should decide a five-year plan and prepare courses that would be advantageous to students from different locations.”
Colleges without NAAC to be penalised
In view of over 50% colleges in the state not having NAAC accreditation, Patil, in an exclusive interview with HT, said that the institutions that do not complete the NAAC process will be penalised.
“In such a scenario, colleges will be taken to task by cutting short their student intake. Further non-adherence will entail a ban on any new admissions for the next academic year,” Patil said. Of the 4,494 colleges and 65 universities in the state, only 1,854 are NAAC-accredited, of which 425 have ‘A’ grades.
There are 28 government-run colleges, of which four do not have NAAC grading. Most unaided colleges do not participate in NAAC. Of 232, NAAC grading of only 119 colleges is presently on.