BHUBANESWAR: Self-Financing courses being offered in higher education institutes of Odisha are back in the focus of the Higher Education department. Principal Secretary of the department Saswat Mishra in a letter to principals of all government degree colleges and teacher education colleges, has asked them to stop extending additional financial benefits to teaching and non-teaching staff who are engaged with such courses.
He said that it has come to the notice of the department that some regular teaching and non-teaching staff are associated with running self-financing courses in both direct and public-private partnership (PPP) mode and are benefitting from it in the form of honorarium/remuneration which is above their regular salary. “This is not a good practice as all activities associated with running such courses should be a part of their normal duty and they should not be given any additional financial benefits for the same,” he said.
Mishra directed that the college staff can perform the duties pertaining to self-financing courses of their colleges but they will not be entitled to receive any additional money for the same over and above their regular salaries.
Earlier, the Governor and Chancellor of Universities Prof Ganeshi Lal had called for regulating such courses in government-run universities to 20 percent of the regular courses. He had also asked all universities not to open any new self-financing courses in PPP mode from the new academic year of 2022-23 to maintain quality of education. Subsequently, Utkal University has already closed three of its self-financing courses including one offered in PPP mode at its Chandikhol campus.