Common system for TN universities yet to take off
It was proposed that there will be a uniform system for admissions, a common syllabus, beginning of classes, conducting exams, declaring results and organising convocation at all the 13-state run universities.
CHENNAI: The Higher Education Department's proposal to bring a common system, including conducting semester exams and publishing the results, besides conducting convocation at the same time in all the state-run universities, is yet to take off.
It was proposed that there will be a uniform system for admissions, a common syllabus, beginning of classes, conducting exams, declaring results and organising convocation at all the 13-state run universities.
At present, there are University of Madurai Kamaraj University, Anna University, Bharathiar University, Bharathidasan University, Mother Teresa Women's University, Alagappa University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Periyar University, Tamil Nadu Open University, Tiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Annamalai University are functioning across the State.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, said that this system, often managed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), aims to streamline the process for students applying to multiple universities.
The Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE), under the Higher Education Department, has initiated the new common platform system for all the state-run universities and their affiliated colleges. "However, the proposal was put on hold after all the autonomous colleges opposed it, saying it could lose their autonomy status in creating curriculum, which has an advantage over the other state-run institutions," he added.
However, P Thirunavukkarasu, vice-chairman, Association of University Teachers (AUT) said, "it is not practically possible to implement the system since each university will have a different agenda according to the local requirements".
Claiming that the existing system should continue so that it would benefit the students in large, the AUT representative said, "if the common system was introduced, the faculty members of the universities and its affiliated colleges will also face several issues and they will work under pressure to complete the requirements in time".
"In addition, there will be huge students' data if the common system is implemented," he said and alleged "tracing the students' performance will be difficult and there might be a series of malpractices as the data will be available for each institution."
However, M Akilash, a student counsellor in the city, said that if there were different times in conducting admission, exams and declaring results, the UG students would have to wait for a long time to pursue PG education in a particular university, which delays declaring its UG results.
"As the technology have developed, maintaining huge students' data will not be difficult," he said, adding "the uniform platform will also increase the admission of the government-run universities since the students might opt for private institutions if results are delayed."
