The Peer Team comprising Prof. Amiya Kumar Dev, former Vice-Chancellor of Vidya- sagar University, Prof. Jagadeesha, Chairman, Department of Commerce, Karnataka State Open University and Prof. T.L. Santha, Principal, Maharani Lakshmi Amani College for Women, Bangalore visited the College on 2nd , 3rd and 4th February 2000. The members have gone through the Self Study Report submitted by the College and have each given the college a tentative score for the criteria of (a) Curricular Aspects, (b) Teaching-Learning and Evaluation, (c) Research, Consultancy and Extension, (d) Infrastructure and Learning Resources, (e) Student Support and Progression, (f) Organization and Management, and (g) Healthy Practices. It was felt on the basis of that Report that while in certain respects the college is quite strong, in certain others it is a little weak. Thus he visit had a double responsibility--to not only have a first-hand knowledge of the college but to test out that initial impression as well. The Team began with the Principal who gave an overview. The members then went to the individual departments and talked to the faculty about their teaching and research, their publication and future plans. The members also met students, non-teaching staff, the Managing Board, parents and alumni, and looked up the facilities such as the central library, the departmental libraries, laboratories, hostels, sports grounds including the swimming pool and the gymnasium. The members went through aspect of every single criterion checking on related documents and the college has offered free and cordial cooperation. At the meeting with the Managing Board the Patron himself, the Bishop of the diocese, was present and it was possible to discuss the development at programmes of the college and the problems thereof. The students too offered a few suggestions for improvement while appreciating the overall care taken of them by the teachers and the Management. They had nothing to complain of, nor did the non-teaching staff have any except for a general disparity on pay scales for which the college is not to blame, they said. With regard to teachers, the members had an opportunity to gauge their academic commitment as well as their commitment to the institution. The N.C.C. and N.S.S. units and the staff-run cooperatives were not left out of the visit, nor were the botanical and the herbal gardens. It was clear to the members that the infrastructure and resources the College were quite advanced though the college did not yet have a computer centre and a health centre of its own. But there was no doubt that it cared for its students and staff and desired a better future for them. As regards curricular development, let alone innovations, the college seemed to be constrained by its affiliated status. It might do better with autonomy, but the members felt that in the absence of that and in view of the recent changes in the affiliating university’s attitude to curriculum and syllabus, it might persist in its effort for development.
The detailed report follows.
The College offers 13 Under-graduate courses, 11 Post-graduate courses, 2 unaffiliated post-graduate diploma courses; and has 8 departments with provision for Doctoral research. All the courses except the three first-degree vocational programmes and the two post-graduate diploma courses are conventional. Though students do not have much flexibility in the choice of their academic programme, there seems to be some freedom in this latter. zoology being an under-graduate programme, its faculty felt the need for an M.Sc. There was also a need felt by the botany and the physics faculty to be recognized as a research centre.
The active participation of the senior faculty in the core committees constituted by the university for restructuring the curriculum has generated a positive academic culture. In its drive for quality improvement the college has also been collecting a feedback from students. Besides, there have been seminars at the state and the national levels. There have been workshops as well with academic peers with a bid to share knowledge. Further, the college has been building a tie-up with industry, which will provide an opportunity to students for field visits, demonstrations, experiments and on the job training.
The curricular aspects of the academic programme are by and large in conformity with the mission, goals and objectives of the institution.
Admission to the under-graduate and post-graduate courses is based on the university regulations, marks in the previous public examination being the sole criterion. Hence no entrance test is given by the college. However, the college makes a post-admission assessment in some of the post-graduate departments. This helps the college to find out the individual student’s standard and to decide and plan remedial or enrichment inputs. As regards the former, that is to say, the remedial, the college has been offering regular coaching to the under-graduates, on a voluntary basis. Part of the funding for these courses has come from the state or the U.G.C. There have also been similar bridge or preparatory courses, for instance for those who offer to take the post-graduate course in English. The fee for that is nominal and as a token of their service to the student community the teachers do not take any remuneration for these courses.
Teaching planners are prepared by the departments and most of the teaching is done by the lecture method. However, some departments have adopted the seminar system and introduced a compulsory component of project work. Not all departments have an audio-visual equipment, but the College is trying to acquire more teaching aids. The teaching days add up to 198 a year. There are mid-term and terminal tests to monitor the performance of students. Since there is a ban on the recruitment of teachers in the state, the college has to make do with guest lecturers in posts which have been lying vacant. There is no part time teaching in the college. The college has been doing fairly well at the under-graduate and post-graduate examinations of the university and some ranks were obtained by students in a number of subjects.
Teachers are encouraged to attend seminars and some forty of them have attended national level and three international level seminars. The teachers are also encouraged to attend Refresher courses and at the same time a few refresher courses, seminars and workshops have been hosted by the college itself both at the national and international level. A few of the faculty have received teaching awards and attained recognition. The departments of statistics, and economics & history are establishing up overseas ties with the university of Maryland and Heidelberg Universities.
The college has introduced a teacher evaluation system. The students give their feedback to a questionnaire. Besides, all teachers are expected to turn in an annual self-appraisal report. A committee goes over these reports and takes care of any lacuna that may crop up.
The College has set up a research centre in 8 departments and has plans for more. A sizable section of the faculty have Ph.D. and quite a few have M.Phil. A number of others are working towards Ph.D. and M.Phil. including those placed under the F.I.P. programme. There is a committee in the college to promote research. The standard of research publications is by no means poor and a good many papers have been published in refereed journals, both national and international. A book has also been printed by an overseas university press.
The college undertakes a lot of extension work through its N.C.C and N.S.S. units. It also has a range of outreach programmes at the student initiative under such organisations as the Anti-Narcotic Club, Nature Club, and the Red Cross. These clubs have organized Aids Awareness programmes, Blood grouping camps and an environment awareness campaign.
In addition, the college has set up a Civil Service Training Institute and a coaching centre for entrance examinations, NET and other competitive examinations. But the College has not yet developed a full-fledged Consultancy service.
The College is located on spacious grounds and has a complex of 4 three-storied buildings, hostels, an auditorium and a canteen. Besides these, there is a sports complex including a small stadium and a gymnasium. It may be recorded that when Mahatma Gandhi University opened its department of chemistry the college lent out space to it. In addition to a central library there are a number of departmental libraries and a university study centre with access restricted to post-graduate and research students.
The college has been taking good care of its grounds and planted trees including a variety of medicinal species. There is also a botanical garden on the campus. All this speaks of the eco-friendly philosophy upheld by the college. Part of the campus plantation has been done through the N.S.S. The buildings are well maintained and kept clean in every respect.
The present Central Library is quite crammed. But the College is building a separate library which will not only accommodate the present holdings but have space for additions to come with ample space for reading rooms, computers and other facilities. The College at the moment has a few computers. However, the College has signed an MOU with a computer firm for setting up a computer centre on the campus. In fact the Management has plans to offer computer literacy to all.
The College has been very good in sports. Two physical instructors monitor the coaching as well as the events in which the college in its own rights and as part of the Mahatma Gandhi University sports team, has been taking part. It is appreciated that the students participating in sports are exempted from tuition and are given free board and lodging.
The staff-run Credit Co-operative Society, Co-operative Stores and canteen function effectively. In the Co-operative Society the staff can avail themselves of loans up to Rs. One lakh each. Though there is a grievance redressal cell just set up, the college has yet to have a health centre of its own. The facilities in the hostel are adequate enough and the premises are well looked after with a small garden on the lawn.
The college publishes a prospectus and a calendar with course details, admission rules and details of scholarships offered by the institution. The calendar gives the details of working days and facilities available to students on campus.
The drop-out rate for students at the Under-graduate level is about 11.5% and at Post-graduate 7.3%. Often they discontinue only to take up some other course elsewhere. The progression rate of students from the under-graduate to the post- graduate course is about 25% and from the Post-graduate to the Ph.D. is about 7%. Over the last five years 49 students have passed the CSIR-UGC NET.
A number of scholarships 73 at present-- as well as one-time financial aid are available to students. Financially backward students get assistance from the Poor Students’ Fund. Poor students are also given free lunch on working days and money for purchase of books. There is a career guidance cell with a teacher in charge of it. It organizes regular career guidance programme. However, there is as yet no placement cell. There is a Counseling Centre with a weekly service provided to the students by a trained counsellor.
The college has introduced a formal tutorial system with each student meeting his tutor twice a month.
The college has a long list of illustrious alumni with a growing Alumni Association which has chapters in Europe and Kuwait. As in other institutions in the state there is also a parent- teacher association here actively concerned with the welfare of the college. Foreign students are encouraged to enroll and at the moment there is one from Tanzania who is appreciative of the care taken of him.
In addition to the students’ clubs listed above, there are Debating and Arts Club, Dramatic Club, which has recently staged three Shakespeare plays and Yoga Club-the activities of which are quite commendable.
Criterion VI: Organization and Management
The College is governed by a Managing Board with the Bishop of the diocese as its patron. The Board has 7 members with a Manager at the head and the Principal as Secretary and five others nominated by the Bishop. It is the Managing Board which does the recruitment and maintains the over-all academic and administrative control. The internal co-ordination is done by the Principal with help from the Heads of the Departments and the Staff Council which meets regularly to review the progress of the academic programme. There are a number of small committees with membership from the staff in charge of responsibilities relating to the day to day functioning of the college.
The college has a centralized budget to mobilize revenue and provide for expenditure. It also generates funds from its land, quarters and the few self-financing courses. As a minority community college it has a number of Catholic priests on its faculty who donate one- fourth of their salary to the College fund. There is a Bursar to look after the financial affairs. He sees to the internal audit. All accounts, duly audited by a registered firm, are placed before the Managing Board and are eventually forwarded to the Government.
Criterion VII: Healthy Practices
With regard to the criterion of healthy practices the college has just made a beginning but it has far to go. It can surely try more job-oriented and need-based self-financing courses but it must not give up on the university for the statutory approval. For there lies a stake in that direction –the college cannot afford to lose its academic standing and turn into a training centre. The I.A.S. and Entrance coaching programmes it has launched are praiseworthy, but by no means must they compromise its post-graduate teaching in the subjects which are taken up in these programmes. The national/international linkage that has already been established is commendable, but it needs to be sustained. Industrial linkage is not going to be easy for a college which has only a semi urban setting. But the location being that of the rubber belt, it might explore possibilities in related fields. With an increased polymer expertise it can try consultancy as well. But by all means its academic excellence should be further increased so that consultancy and industrial linkage may be easier. The honours won by its faculty, the better these prospects.
The Peer Team would like to commend the College for the following:
· The active partcipation of the senior members of faculty in the core committees constituted by the university for restructuring the curriculum has generated a positive academic culture.
· The institution has arranged seminars at national and international levels.
· The college has been building a tie-up with industry, which will provide an opportunity to the students for field visits, demonstrations, experiments and on the job training.
· The teachers are also encouraged to attend Refresher courses and at the same time a few refresher courses, seminars and workshops have been hosted by the college itself both at the national and international level.
· The college has introduced a teacher evaluation system. The students give their feedback to a questionnaire. Besides, all teachers are expected to turn in an annual self-appraisal report. A committee goes over these reports and takes care of any lacuna that may crop up.
· The standard of research publications is by no means poor and a good many papers have been published in refereed journals, both national and international.
· It also has a range of outreach programmes at the student initiative under such organisations as the Anti-Narcotic Club, Nature Club, and the Red Cross. These clubs have organized AIDS Awareness programmes, Blood grouping camps and an environment awareness campaign.
· The college has set up a Civil Service Training Institute and a coaching centre for entrance examinations, NET and other competitive examinations.
· The college has been taking good care of its grounds and planted trees including a variety of medicinal species.
· Over the last five years a good number of students have passed the CSIR-UGC (NET) examination.
· Financially backward students get assistance from the Poor Students’ Fund. Poor students are also given free lunch on working days and money for purchase of books.
· The college has introduced a formal tutorial system with each student meeting his tutor twice a month.
In the light of the above the Peer Team records its commendation of St. Thomas College Pala for the work it has been doing and makes the following suggestions for future improvement.
· The college may apply for more U.G.C. and State sponsored vocational courses and make them viable by a programme of placement.
· The college may encourage research fostering further faculty research without compromising the teaching.
· The college may regularly depute to the U.G.C. sponsored Orientation and Refresher courses for a continuous updating of specialised knowledge and pedagogic innovation.
· The college may organise regular colloquia and seminars in all its departments for a continuous interaction with peer faculty.
· The college may regularly invite eminent scholars to lecture and may also take advantage of ready lecture-discussion packages produced by the U.G.C.-supported E.M.R.C.-A.V.R.C.’s as well as centres of educational technology.
· The college may introduce a regular enrichment programme for the forward students.
· The college may like to modernize its class-rooms by re-organizing its seating arrangement so that the intimidating distance between the teacher and the student is lessened. The college may also like to replace the present “Spartan” classroom furniture by more user-friendly furniture.
· The college may like to rationalise its library hours so that students may have more time at their disposal for library use.
· The college may try to introduce a general Computer–literacy programme–a requirement as long as it remains outside the university framed syllabus.
· The college may set up a regular Placement Cell and arrange for campus interviews in compatible cases.
· The college may revamp its consultancy service.
· The college may activate student feedback by introducing a degree of transparency so that it is not reduced to routine so that students can see the outcome of their response.
· The college may further regularize the teachers’ self–appraisal and maintain transparency in the storing of the relevant data.
· The college Managing Board may periodically invite faculty, non-teaching staff and student representatives to discuss matters related to the college community and the future of the college.
· The college may apply for a degree level course in Physical Education to further justify its sports facilities.