Maharashtra government proposes flexible duration undergraduate courses
A three-year undergraduate course may be the thing of the past. Passing out of college can either be speeded up or slowed down.At the same time you needn't be a student of just Mumbai or Nagpur university; no matter which varsity you signed up at, you can pick a political science course from Pune University or a sports' physician's programme from the Maharashtra Uni versity of Health Sciences.
Flexible duration to complete courses, setting a comfortable pace of learning and free mobility among universities will all be available to students of the state. The freshly drafted Maharashtra Public Universities' Act, 2015, states that academic bodies must design procedures, policies and practices to introduce more flexible approach to education and of “adaptive pace of learning“ with minimum and maximum duration for completion of a degree and other academic programmes.
Similarly , it must “create a policy for mobility of students among various universities of the state and also lay down the policy for giving flexibility to choose and learn different course modules among different faculties in a university or other universities in the state“. A copy of the draft with TOI shows that universities will set up departments for interdisciplinary studies, for linkages with corporates, a board for extension and lifelong learning, a wing for innovation and incubation, schools for skills, among some other forward-looking academic renovations.
With the affiliation system getting unwieldy , the draft also proposes that subcampuses be set up and a board for the same be established. “Also, the fact that a board for postgraduate studies in colleges is being set, shows the importance PG-level education will get in the future,“ said a principal.
There is an idea to harness technology at a grand scale. A board of information technology will be created to use technology in academics, finances and administration. But some aren't very happy with the draft bill for it vests more powers in their vice chancellors. For, university bodies, the organs that carry forward its workings, will now have more members nominated by vice chancellors than those that walk in through a democratic election process.
C N Dhanagre, former VC of Shivaji University , Kolhapur, said “This draft is very authority heavy; the fact that the number of nominated members on various bodies is more than elected members vests more powers in the hands of the VC. That will defeat the democratic functioning of the university .“
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Pralhad Jadhav
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Khaitan & Co
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