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UoM’s proposal of engineering college draws flak

Last Updated 05 December 2019, 17:40 IST

The proposal of the century-old University of Mysore (UoM), to start an engineering college, from the next academic year, has attracted criticism from citizens.

U Rajatha, a BE graduate in Computer Science, now pursuing a course in Interior Designing, said that already a few thousand seats in some engineering colleges in Karnataka go without takers, every year. “Besides, the number of graduation of engineering students is increasing, with every passing year. The complaint from the recruiters side is that the graduates from engineering colleges lack skills and that they are not industry-ready,” she said.

“Earlier, all engineering colleges in the districts under the jurisdiction of the UoM were affiliated to it. After the formation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), the UoM lost the right to issue certificates to technical courses, including engineering degrees. Now, the UoM lacks expertise in not just engineering stream, but also in other streams, under which it is offering courses. The new venture of the UoM will only spoil the future of the youths, who may join the courses,” Rajatha said.

‘Victims are students’

Chaitra Pavan Raj Urs, a counsellor, with a MSW degree said that there is already an acute shortage of teaching faculty in the UoM, for existing departments and courses.

“It has become a fancy for the UoM to introduce fancy courses, without any faculty or expertise. There are a handful of professors, who juggle between multiple responsibilities. Most of them handle administrative duties and hardly discharge any academic or research duty. Thus, the victims will be the students,” she said.

“It is almost two decades since the UoM recruited teaching faculty members. Only last year, some assistant professors were promoted as associate professors. So, there is an acute shortage of assistant professors now. Most of the departments have one or two permanent teaching faculty. The show is run mainly by temporary faculty members,” Chaitra said.

Rajatha said, “The UoM, which basks on its past glory, has already lost its reputation. Besides, the UoM is plagued by problems like lethargy, inefficiency and caste factions. It has to be noted that even specialised engineering institutions are finding it difficult to conduct the courses. With so many drawbacks, what will the UoM do?” she asked.

Vacancy

Chaitra said that at present, there is a vacancy of 70% teaching faculty posts in the UoM. “If the UoM cannot recruit faculty members to its existing courses, how will it appoint teaching faculty to the engineering courses? Besides, the competence of existing teaching faculty members in the UoM is poor. Most of them don’t even have language skills. What will the students gain from the UoM’s engineering college?” she asked.

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(Published 05 December 2019, 16:54 IST)

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