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10 Key Questions for Emerging Autonomous Colleges in Kerala (With What Not to Do!)

Key Questions for Emerging Autonomous Colleges in Kerala (With What Not to Do!) 1. How will the institution ensure transparency and accountability in the functioning of statutory bodies like the Academic Council, Governing Body, and Board of Studies? (Avoid populating these bodies with only insiders, yes-men, loyalists. Don’t reduce them to symbolic roles or friends’ clubs with no space for critical voices or dissent. Institutional health demands diversity, expertise, and challenge.) 2. What mechanisms will be established to ensure that curriculum development remains industry-relevant, academically sound, and socially responsive? (Do not go for superficial revamps with jargon-heavy, “trendy” topics just for cosmetic appeal. Avoid dumping real content in favour of what merely sounds futuristic. Curriculum must serve relevant learning outcomes, not marketing.) 3. How will assessment practices—including internal evaluations and end-semester exams—be made robust, unbiased, and resistant to...
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The Silent Strength of HEI Front Desks

 'The moment I walk across the gate, I know the grade the college deserves': I recall a senior academic once telling me as we walked across the gate of a College. He was there for a mock NAAC visit. The same holds true for the front office of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) too. The front office can hold a mirror to the overall quality of the institution: whether it is the physical infrastructure, academic ambience or the quality of communications which await when one walks across. The person you meet first in the front office, the first point of contact physically, is the one who can provide assurance as to what might follow, lent confidence in the programmes offered and the marketing-promises made. What the person/s at the front office communicates is as important as the matter she hands out: institutional brochures, flyers, prospectus and other literature which relate to the institution and it's courseware. The level of awareness of the front office personnel as to...
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Bringing Quality to Feedback Mechanism in HEIs

When anything is taken for granted, it's genuineness is killed. It gradually turns to a ritual. As part of the documentation ritual we have unleashed in the name of accreditation in the HEIs, feedback has become a casualty. It is true that majority of HEIs initiated the habit of collecting structured feedback only in the wake of accreditation as it was mandated. Feedback has since joined the legion of reports which are mechanically generated, printed and filed, often followed up with requisite action taken reports. Many institutions ensure that the responses gathered through feedback will not be made to interfere with the regular functioning of the HEI!        Feedback-effectiveness is strongly tied to the follow-up actions. In any context, leave alone academic, if feedback doesn't lead to change, then it becomes a mere practice which doesn't benefit the person who spends her time on it or improve the whole process in one way or another. Once the Feedback-giver is co...
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Conferences in Search of Audience

  The idea of the whole campus conference has caught on in Kerala. Many HEIs, irrespective of their size and popularity, have taken to organising conferences / seminars which are apparently big and days long. These conferences call for long planning for effective execution. Any such serious event starts with the idea, then the find of the focus theme, dates, speaker selection, literature like brochures and posters, marketing and the logistics of actual execution. All these are time consuming and energy sapping. It consumes a lot of meetings, work hours and some unproductive labour too. Hence it is time that the HEIs went for an introspection as to how fruitful these events are in terms of efforts invested and actual outcomes.  There is no denying that such events always offer plenty of take homes. From the initial brainstorming to find the right theme, through the compilation of speaker lists to the actual experience of listening to and interacting with the invited scholars,...
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College Vs. University

There is an intriguing, imperceptible, even interesting, cold war on with the affiliating universities on the one side and the affiliated colleges on the other. Intriguing because in the affiliating model the two can't survive without each other and the symbiosis is expected to contribute to not only mutual growth but also to the growth indices too. The Colleges, affiliated units of HE, too need the shade and warmth of the the Universities for guidance and support in many forms. But the question is what happens when both are caught in a battle for survival. Both brace for the uncertain future in sight  with a plan which promises to encroach into each other's territories and to provide causes for discomfort but on legitimate grounds! With the kind of decline in enrollment we have been witnessing in Higher Education scene, this is a tussle which will end in the disappearance of many HEIs.  This is played out at many levels. The Universities in Kerala are searching for means to h...
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The underpaid leadership of Self-financing colleges

The category called 'for-profit' institutions are similar to what we call self-financing here. The difference is that in 'for-profit' category there is a clear, legally sanctioned room for profit while in our 'self-financing' category, there's no such written provision as such, but it does generate profit. 'For-profit' is a label which directly indicates 'profit' as a clear  objective of these institutions and for us, there certainly is a degree of discomfort as the profit part is made so evident. It foregrounds the profit part disturbingly and many who are part of the system squirm a bit at the drop of the term. But the way the HEI leadership is paid in self-financing institutions makes one  wonder  whether the 'for-profit college' label is more appropriate. Except for a handful of HEIs, to the best of my knowledge, the leadership of these colleges are grossly underpaid. The Principals, Vice Principals and IQAC coordinators and Heads...
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Leadership In-chargeism in HEIs

In-charge is an interesting hyphenation, particularly when it comes designate positions. It says that the person concerned is in charge of a role or a responsibility but not exactly! In my part of the world it represents temporariness. A principal in-charge or a Department Head in-charge is a person who is temporarily assigned to hold that seat and the reasons may vary. Either because a better fit is on the way or the one given the 'charge' is too young to be anointed as the one to really take charge. Though at times there is a possibility in the air that the in-charge will be regularised removing the 'In-charge' tag, it is not always the case. Many put in diligent hours as they are supposedly on the way to 'full-charge' only to realise that the goalpost has been shifted when they got close enough.  This tendency to put people 'in-charge' at the high leadership positions is done in many HEIs for monetary reasons. The idea is to pick a young person with s...
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