CHENNAI: MOP Vaishnav College for Women, in association with their International Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), presented a national seminar on the topic ‘Role of autonomy and assurance in higher education’ on Monday. Professors and principals from around 14 colleges participated in the session.
The chief guest, P Duraisamy, vice chancellor, University of Madras, inaugurated the seminar. “Our goal should be to focus more on quality assurance in universities and various institutions in the country,” said P Duraisamy. He also discussed on University Grants Commission (UGC) rules in assessment of colleges, and ranking of colleges. “Public funded institutions have no financial autonomy as such , therefore weakening the ranking of colleges,” added Duraisamy.
Day one included a technical session by S Gurusamy, dean, academic affairs, University of Madras and S Sivasubramanian, advisor, research and development, Vels University, who focused on the autonomy of institutions from the perspective of administrators. “There are many challenges in higher education and one is the lack of quality in assurance,” Sivasubramanian explained.
The faculties gained insights on various aspects in higher education like key issues concerning higher education, schemes on promoting quality and excellence in UGC for colleges and others. He stressed that stakeholders like the government should formulate a futuristic policy, provide financial support and fair appointments for heads of institutions.
The second session was conducted by Anupam Kaushik, founder & CEO, EdMonks, who discussed how autonomy should be structured for a ‘future-ready curriculum’. Innovations in teaching methodology at institutions was covered by K Rajeshwari, associate professor, Great Lakes Institute of Management. Day one session was concluded by S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean, planning & development, SASTRA Deemed University, who deliberated on the topic of quality enablers for ranking of educational institutions.