The government’s higher education department is mulling to undertake an academic audit of degree colleges in Jammu and Kashmir to assess student performance and outcomes of teaching-learning process.
The decision was taken recently in a meeting convened by secretary of the department Talat Parvez, with college principals of Kashmir division. “The academic audit will be carried out to assess overall performance of the colleges in terms of academics. We will also assess that how many students pass the exams and the percentage of the students who drop out,” said a top official.
He said the objective was to make undergraduate courses relevant with the prevailing scenario. “We will also assess the quality of education being provided in colleges and will seek suggestions for improvements,” the official said.
The idea of auditing colleges is being rolled out in the wake of dwindling student enrolment, particularly in southern Kashmir districts. “It has been observed that from past one year, the government is focusing on opening of new colleges but we want to assess the academic performance and outcome of existing colleges,” the official said.
The enrolment in existing colleges particularly in south Kashmir districts has dropped drastically from last one year. The dwindling trend in enrolment has set alarm bells ringing for the department following which the authorities wanted to review the subject combination offered in all the colleges for undergraduate courses.
The courses offered in the degree colleges need to have market acceptability so that students don’t become a liability for the state, said another official.
The situation in city colleges is no different as around five major degree colleges have been merged into a Cluster University functional in Srinagar.
The admission in these five constituent colleges of Cluster University is given on basis of the student performance in the entrance test. The move has put a cap on the admission in these colleges which subsequently decreased the enrolment as well.
Confirming the development Parvez said that the department wants to integrate Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) guidelines with curriculum in the colleges.
He said RUSA guidelines state that courses in colleges should focus on skill development so that students graduating from colleges will have acceptability in job market. “We want to integrate these guidelines in our curriculum as per National Education Policy,” he said, adding the students graduating from colleges don’t find any employability in job market due to which there was a need to modify the courses. “Our focus is that a graduate student must be skilled and shouldn’t become a liability,” he said.
Recently, the governor administration approved establishment of new 52 degree colleges which has raised questions from different quarters on account of quality of education. “Government should focus on strengthening of existing colleges’ vis-a-vis availability of proper infrastructure instead of going for expansion.
It won’t bear any fruits if the institution is started in make-shift arrangements for years together which had been a practice in the past as well,” said a college professor, wishing not to be named.
With regard to the newly announced 52 degree colleges, the higher education department has decided that the academic session will be started in only those colleges for which the land has been acquired. “The colleges fulfilling these two criteria shall initiate process of affiliation with the concerned universities,” an official said. Already around 20 existing degree colleges in J&K are without permanent campuses and are functioning from make shift arrangements since their establishment.
Meanwhile, as part of the academic audit the department has decided to introduce Information Technology (IT) and other skill-based courses in colleges after consultation with industry, trade and corporate sector of Kashmir.
The Centres of innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship will also be part of the curriculum to explore future prospects for the Valley youth. “The Principals of the colleges have been advised to change the paradigm of academics by putting more focus on applied aspects of education so that students will be groomed in such a way to rely on self-learning,” reads minutes of the meeting held in March.
In the meeting, college Principals were directed to explore possibility of setting up coaching centres within campuses that would help students prepare for various competitive exams and specified programs. “To improve the teaching and learning outcomes in higher education, a proper method of assessment of students should be devised and put in place to objectively assess parameters of education and offer remedial interventions as and when required,” read the minutes.