BU to set up inquiry panels for affiliation of BEd colleges

Move is aimed at pre-empting disruption of academic calendar

With BEd admissions scheduled for September, Bangalore University (BU) will set up new inquiry committees this week to examine the authenticity of the affiliation of colleges for the 2013-14 academic year.

The move is a pre-emptive measure to avoid the confusion which reigned last year. No recommendations of the committees — constituted again and again — had been accepted then, causing uncertainty among students.

The disorder was so great that even colleges not affiliated to BU were found conducting the semester exam. As a result, the exams were postponed at least four times, upsetting the academic schedule.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof B Thimme Gowda, is determined to avoid last year’s chaos. The new committees would be constituted in two days, he told Deccan Herald. Meanwhile, the decision on the affiliation status of nearly 47 BEd colleges has been pending since last year.

Despite facing allegations of irregularities in way classes are conducted and controversy over faked attendance and assignments, these colleges were permitted to allow their students to write the exam.

Special committee

Gowda has constituted a special committee to be chaired by P Venkataramaiah, former vice chancellor of Kuvempu University. Chidananda Gowda, former vice chancellor  of the same university, and Siddappa, former vice chancellor of BU, will be its members. Three Local Inquiry Committees (LICs), consisting of experts, will be formed under the guidance of each of these members.

“The committees will be broken up further to make the process easier as inspection of all 47 colleges by a single committee will be a tough task. The special committee will review and give a feedback on the existing reports on BEd colleges,” Prof Gowda explained.

2 more LICs to be formed

Two other Local Inquiry Committees will be formed to inspect 27 other colleges whose affiliation was renewed last year.

The reports of all these LICs will be submitted to the government by August-end. In addition, the vice chancellor will hold discussions with the committee members concerned on new evaluation strategies of colleges for the committees.

The existing evaluation method adopted by the committees has been criticised for its abstract guidelines. In fact, it was the absence of a quantifiable method for evaluating colleges which led to formation of multiple committees.

The vice chancellor  said the new evaluation method would be finalised soon to assist the committees members with a meticulous approach to rate colleges for affiliation.