St. Xavier's took four years to get autonomy
The University of Mumbai's academic council on Wednesday
evening approved the autonomy proposal for KJ Somaiya group of colleges.
The proposal will now move to the management council, which will meet on May 30.
"We passed the proposal on Wednesday. We are encouraging autonomy and hope to make
at least 10 colleges autonomous," said Rajpal Hande, director, Board of College
and University Development.
There are 37 institutes on the 65-acre Somaiya campus at Vidyavihar. But it has
applied for autonomy for four of its institutes - KJ Somaiya College of Engineering,
KJ Somaiya Arts and Science College, KJ Somaiya Arts, Science and Commerce College
and KJ Somaiya Science and Commerce College.
So far, St. Xavier's College and Sardar Patel College of
Engineering have gained autonomy from the University of Mumbai.
After the management council approval, the University Grants Commission, the apex
governing body of universities, will appoint a scrutiny committee and then grant
autonomy.
"We are hoping we are granted autonomy by next year. We already have our plans in
place with a shadow board of studies appointed and exam reforms ready to be implemented,"
said Vijay Joshi, principal, KJ Somaiya College of Science and Commerce.
The colleges had applied for autonomy last year.
As per the earlier norm, a college had to apply to the university that moved it
to the state, which then sent it to the UGC.
The process was slow. St. Xavier's took four years to get autonomy.
Last year the UGC allowed universities to directly forward proposals to UGC to fast
track the process. A university committee scrutinised the proposal before it reached
the academic council.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
