Universities Not Happy with Higher Autonomy; Question Financial Autonomy

The Central Government had recently released the list of 52 universities and institutes that have been granted higher autonomy as per their plan. Various top national and state universities have been granted autonomy on the basis of their academic performance and past excellence records. However, the move has not been welcomed by all.

Many of the professors and teaching associations at these universities have pointed out some issues with the plan of imparting higher autonomy. Although most of the universities and institutes agree that granting higher autonomy will enable them to start new courses without long approval procedures, many argue that it is not much of an advantage if the institutes do not have financial autonomy.

Also Read: UGC Gives Nod to Regulations Granting Autonomy to Higher Learning Institutes

Here’s what Universities said about Higher Autonomy:

• The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is not entirely optimistic about higher autonomy and stated that it will commercialize education and will make it difficult for the underprivileged students to access higher education.
• The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) also pointed out the flaws in the higher autonomy plan and said that it will promote incentive-based faculty emoluments in order to attract foreign faculty. However, professors of IIT-BHU said that it will help in starting new short-term courses to preserve languages and culture.
• The students and teachers at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) stated that higher autonomy is meaningless without financial autonomy. They also believed that the this may lead to AMU being recognized as a minority institution.
• On a more positive note, the Symbiosis International University (SIU) stated that it is a positive step and forward and will help in opening more opportunities for the students at the university, especially for students of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIMB).
• Dr. DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune , believes that the step will enhance the level of faculty and facilities at the university. The university believes that will also encourage interaction and intellectual exchange with foreign educational institutes and they are looking forward to starting offering better education with no changes in the fees.
• University of Hyderabad (UoH) expressed its pride in being shortlisted amongst the few universities that have been shortlisted for higher autonomy. They also expressed that it will open opportunities to collaborate with top higher education institutes throughout the world.
• EFL University, Hyderabad , is also enthusiastic about the move and said that higher autonomy will make it simpler to start new university centres without having to deal with pending approvals from UGC. The university plans to start a new centre at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh.
• Jadavpur University was not too happy about the move either and said that it has not been mentioned whether the new courses that they can launch will be funded by the UGC or not. They also said that the salary of the staff is released by the state government and the university is not sure whether these pay-rolls will now be provided by the state government or not.

Also Read: UGC Asks Universities to Introduce Students Counselling System

The aim of the Government was to offer more operational independence to the universities and colleges through higher autonomy. The level of autonomy has also been defined by the institutes on the basis of their performance and ratings . The decision has been taken to bring these 52 institutes and universities at par with the globally recognized universities in the world and improve their global rankings .