Karnatak University earns 5-star status from NAAC

By Our Special Correspondent

DHARWAD, JAN. 27. The Karnatak University has been given "five Star" status in the accreditation granted to it by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the purpose.

The Karnatak University is the second after the University of Mysore to get this status, which make it eligible for receiving more grants and facilities from the UGC and other funding agencies.

The decision to this effect taken by the Executive Committee of the NAAC on the basis of a report submitted by a "peer committee", which visited Dharwad in October last, has been conveyed by Dr. A Gnanam, Chairman of the NAAC.

The "peer" committee comprising Prof. M.Malla Reddy (chairman), Prof. Harish Puri, Prof. A.N.P. Ummerkutty, and Dr. Mamatha Sathapathy, looked into the six core areas of curriculum; teaching, learning and evaluation; research, consultancy, and extension; infrastructure and learning resources; student support and progression; and organisation and management, before making a scientific assessment of the performance of the university.

Dr. A.M.Pathan, Vice-Chancellor of the Karnatak University, said that the five-star status granted by the NAAC an eloquent testimony to the significant role played by the university in the overall growth of higher education in this part of Karnataka.

The peer committee recommended the performance of the University, and in its report the university was recognised all over the country for its work ethos, inter-personal relations, general discipline and accountability.

The report said that an important achievement of the university was the establishment of four post-graduate centres, and the concept of having PG centres in the form of a "sub-campus" for the benefit of rural students, was a progressive one. The committee visited the two PG centres in Belgaum and Dandeli, and was impressed by the quality of work, infrastructure and commitment of the faculty. The report said that such centres deserved autonomy not merely to maintain their distinct identity but to exercise freedom in organising academic programmes and co- curricular activities for creating social awareness. The committee recommend that the PG centres should be provided with sufficient resources for further expansion and quality improvement. Courses offered at the PG centres such as Food Processing, Marine Biology and Paper and Pulp Technology had given a special status and image to the centre.

An inter-disciplinary approach for the pursuit of excellence through research and teaching was imperative. It was, therefore, crucial that the university organised a special workshop to examine the need for integrating some departments into one inter- disciplinary area of specialisation, the report said. It suggested that the university should consider providing a continuous assessment and semester system for all programmes and opt for a choice-based credit system that permitted more flexibility in the choice of courses cutting across conventional boundaries of disciplines. Since there was a growing demand for technical education, and new-job oriented courses, which would affect the importance of social science, the teachers of social science should examine this problem and reconstruct the curriculum providing an inbuilt opportunity for horizontal mobility in the wide range of courses offered by the university.

The peer committee expressed the view that shifting some important faculties (Engineering and Medicine) was injurious to the "philosophy" of a modern university and such decisions could not be supported by the academic "community." The academic "community" should mobilise popular opinion against such questionable decisions. The strength of the alumni should be exploited to marshal and manage the financial and professional resources of the university, the report said in the context of the ability shown by the university to maintain high standards as evident from performance of students, and from the number of scholars occupying important positions.

On the phenomenon of universities in the country experiencing a financial crunch as many state governments were not in a position to support higher education, the report said that the university should create a resource mobilisation cell, and marshal and manage resources to optimise utilisation of physical human infrastructure. To match the programmes to the extent of the resources available, the report suggested that conventional programmes should be scaled down and new job- oriented courses should be improved.

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Section  : Southern States
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