SHILLONG, Jan 23: The MDA 2.0 Government is making all out efforts to promote Captain Williamson Sangma State University by going to the extent of putting pressure on the colleges to affiliate with the state-run university.
Sources told The Shillong Times on Thursday that the Education department had convened an online meeting with principals of around 40 colleges on January 17.
Commissioner and Secretary, Vijay Mantri and Director of Higher and Technical Education Ambrose Marak had chaired the online meeting.
The Education department officials made attempts to impress the college heads that they will no longer need to implement the CUET and NEP 2020 if they affiliate with the state university.
Some of the educationists who attended the online meeting argued that all the colleges are affiliated with NEHU and are duly recognised by the UGC.
According to them, the colleges will not be recognised by the UCG if they were not affiliated with a central university.
They also observed that it is mandatory for the colleges to have NAAC assessments due to their affiliation with NEHU.
“A fresh affiliation is not going to be an easy process. The state university is not structured. No one knows how many departments are there,” they said.
They observed that some of the colleges have specialised subjects like Pisciculture (now renamed Fishery Science) and music in St. Anthony’s College, Applied English in Sankardev College and Electronic in St. Edmund’s College. “How will the colleges affiliate with the university when they are not even aware of the subjects that are available,” they questioned. They also observed that the government’s argument of not needing CUET once the colleges are affiliated with the state university does not hold ground since CUET is compulsory as per NEP 2020.
“There could be exemptions for a few years. But at the end CUET has to be implemented. Students will not get admission if they fail to clear the CUET in the coming years,” the educationists added.
Sources revealed that the Meghalaya College Principals’ Council (MCPC) will meet on Monday to discuss the matter.
When contacted, NEHU Controller of Examination, Prof Sumarbin Umdor said affiliation depends on the colleges but they should not be forced to shift affiliation at this moment in the interest of higher education and the students of the state.
He said that the state university will have to develop the PG departments in all subjects/disciplines before they can invite colleges for affiliation.
“Affiliation is not only an administrative procedure but much of it is academic related such as development of curriculum, courses and infrastructure, evaluation and assessment, internship and other related issues,” the NEHU official said.
Prof Umdor observed that under NEP 2020, which all UGC recognised universities have to follow, the programmes offered by any university have to be multi-disciplinary, skill and vocational related along with experiential courses.
According to him, NEHU with over 40 departments is still facing the challenge of developing the courses for the UG and PG programmes.
“At present, NEHU is offering 26 vocational courses and about 15 skill based courses which we are able to do because of the large number of departments that we have,” he said.
Replying to a query on the possibility of the state government revoking the grant-in-aid to colleges if they do not affiliate to the state university, Prof Umdor observed that grants given to the colleges come from public funds and the colleges are providing a service to the students of the state.
“Therefore, penalising any college just because it has not shifted affiliation to the state university, and that too when the state university is not fully functional, is something that no state government would contemplate,” he said.
He further observed that in the long run, the government can encourage colleges to shift their affiliation once the state university is fully functional and starts offering diverse disciplines and programmes.
“Given the needs of Meghalaya and the challenges of implementing NEP 2020, it is hoped that the state government will proceed with proper deliberation and planning in rolling of academic programmes by the state university and carefully proceed with affiliation of colleges in the interest of students of the state,” Prof Umdor said, while welcoming the establishment of the state university.
He said it will improve Meghalaya’s gross enrolment ratio in higher education. He also stated that he was looking forward to the establishment of departments and programmes that are currently not available in the state, particularly those that are skill and technical related, as there is a big gap in this area in Meghalaya.
