| KOZHIKODE: Calicut University has set in motion the process of granting affiliation to new engineering colleges for academic year 2014-15 in blatant violation of the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in this regard.
The varsity syndicate has decided to consider the applications from around 11 new colleges for starting engineering and technical courses even as the UGC had through a letter dated May 27, 2013, asked the varsities to ensure that "no further affiliations are granted to any more colleges offering courses/programmes of professional and technical nature till UGC reaches out to you again".
The UGC had issued the directive after the Supreme Court order in April divested the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) of the authority to affiliate and supervise engineering colleges across the country.
Though the UGC on January 10, 2014, approved the "affiliation of colleges offering Technical Education by Universities (Regulations), 2014," which empowers the varsities to grant recognition and approval to the colleges that offer engineering programmes, it has not yet issued any formal directive to the varsities as the regulation is forwarded to the MHRD for approval.
Calicut University itself had through a press release dated October 1, 2013, announced that no further affiliations are to be granted to courses/programmes of professional and technical nature until informed by the UGC in 2014-15.
However the varsity has now decided to set in motion the affiliation granting process acting on the applications it had received from around 11 engineering and management colleges which has drawn flak even from a section of the syndicate. The university has also decided to conduct inspection of the colleges for assessing the facilities and infrastructure available in the institutes.
Syndicate member Fathimathu Zuhara said the decision to consider the applications of select colleges for affiliation was a clear violation of the UGC guidelines.
"How can the varsity set in motion the affiliation process when the university itself had issued a press release stating that no affiliations are to be granted to colleges until informed by the UGC," she said, adding that considering the affiliation request of colleges even when the varsity has not even issued formal call of applications would lead to charges of preferential treatment for select colleges.
It has also been pointed out that the move violates even the provisions of the newly approved UGC regulations which clearly state that the "affiliating university shall notify through a public notice and by uploading on the university web-portal regarding cut-off dates for various purposes, including receipt of applications and processing which shall be final and binding".
Meanwhile syndicate member T P Ahmed, who is also the convener of the self-financing colleges' standing committee, said there was nothing wrong in processing the applications and conducting inspections. "The district level committees would start the inspections from February 10. The varsity will however take a final decision on affiliation only after taking into consideration the new directives from the UGC," he said. |