Nagpur students bat for autonomy

It began to drizzle as soon as we entered the beautiful and green campus of GS College for a discussion with its students and they were equally excited to air their views. GS College recently became the first commerce institution in the city to be granted an autonomous status by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and notified by Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University from the current session.It took this college eight years to join the elite autonomous group of YCCE and RCOEM, which are functioning independently now. All geared up to express their opinions on the pros and cons of being in an autonomous institution, students sat in the garden enjoying the drizzle, all ready for an interesting discussion for this week’s What’s Up Campus.
No more delays and goof-ups
All the students unanimously expressed the hope that some of the major loopholes would now be eradicated in this autonomous setup. For example mistakes in mark sheets and delays in results that are a common feature in RTMNU can be done away with, in the autonomous colleges. Akash Jaiswal was the first one to express his views on this as he said, “A lot of students have faced the brunt due to various blunders that happen in university examinations every year. This year’s B.Com final year paper had three wrong questions, carrying 20 marks each. The shocker was - despite this, half the students were given low scores while many others got distinction. Such situations will hopefully not arise now.”
Another student Prince Kumar felt that autonomous institution is a boon for all the students for various reasons. He cited a few points, adding, “We hope there will be no delays in results now. Evaluation will be done on the campus premises and our teachers will be able to know in which subject we need to improve. With results getting declared on time, students can appear for various competitive examinations.”
Better syllabus design
Most of the students said that autonomy fosters better syllabus design as there are certain modules in the university syllabus that are outdated and need to be removed. An autonomous institution can freely design its own curriculum and make it more student-oriented. M.Com first year student Kailesh Jaiswal, who wants to be a lecturer, reiterated that the absence of a few important subjects in NU syllabus has impacted students’ performance in the competitive examinations. He added, “Financial Management (FM) is one of the important subjects for NET and SET examinations but that is still not included in RTMNU’s course. An autonomous institution can take care of such shortcomings. In fact, GS College will include this subject in M.Com curriculum.”
Adding to this, a student of first year B.Com Mohit Baghele said, “The syllabus is usually completed well in time in autonomous colleges, so that the students get enough time to prepare for exams.” Mohit, a football player, went on to add, “At a university affiliated college, you have to play in a university level competitions to get 25 marks extra. But at an autonomous college, even if a sports player plays at an intra-department or inter-collegiate competitions, he/she gets incentive marks.”
Direct approach
Direct communication with the teachers is another advantage of studying in an autonomous college, said many of the students. “There are multiple levels that one has to go through in order to make his/her opinions or grievances heard in the university. But at an autonomous institution, it is easier to put forth our opinions and doubts,” said B.Com first year student, Pranati Jayanti.
GS College has formed statutory bodies like academic council and board of studies that help students express their views. “Autonomy will help reduce the communication gap for sure. We’ll be able to share our interests other than academics with the teachers. There are not many university affiliated colleges that have clubs or forums for students, and even if they are, they are not very active,” said Akash.
Making multiple rounds for filling forms in the university is another nightmare for the city students. Autonomous institutions usually make the administrative process less complicated. Agreeing on the same, Anjali Ghate, a student of first year, sums up saying, “A lot of time is wasted in the process in the universities, but autonomous colleges pay extra attention to these aspects.”
A welcome change
Autonomy gives us freedom in terms of designing syllabus and introducing some new education methods, said the principal of the college, Dr Narendra Khandait. He informed that this year the management has proposed two new courses, B.Com (Hons) and B.Com (Finance & Accountancy). “We will be focusing more on choice based credit system. We will keep modifying our syllabi and make our students more employment ready. Also, while evaluation will be done by the college teachers, the revaluation will be strictly done by the external faculty members,” clears Dr Khandait.
BEEN THERE ...
A detailed and practical academic calendar that an autonomous institution provides is an under-rated piece of information. Students can plan their internships, vacations or workshops accordingly. With everything chalked out well in the beginning of the year, students can allot time to the things they want to do apart from academics.
—Viddesh Gharpure, Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management
I got to choose my favourite subjects along with additional subjects. Plus, We have so many extracurricular activities. In fact, learning a foreign language or musical instrument is a part of our curriculum.
— Savneet Chhatwal, GHRCE