Coimbatore Education
The joys of becoming a graduate and walking out the portals of an institution.Today higher education has become a thing to reckon with. Though the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product spent on this sector is less than 25 per cent of the total allotted to education, it is gaining importance in mammoth proportions.For a happening place like Coimbatore, that can almost be called the Mecca of Education in the State, higher education is undeniably a reckoning factor in the growth of the region. With three Government universities, three private universities (all in Coimbatore), nearly 170 arts and science, education colleges, and 75 engineering colleges coming under the purview of these universities, and some six medical colleges, the Western region can boast of the highest number of educational institutions in the State.The Hindu spoke to the heads of a few universities to gauge the kind of activities the university and its affiliated colleges have been into. R. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Coimbatore, the latest to join the bandwagon, says: “Since its inception in February, the university has brought in 20 more colleges under its purview to take the number to 75. Eight stand alone institutions have been set up. Seven colleges have been given autonomy. This is a great achievement, because granting of autonomy has taken place after 24 years in the history of Anna University.”
The university shed its conservativeness to keep up with the need and times. Internal assessment became application oriented, the percentage of marks for internal and external assessment was made 50:50 and new courses like M. Tech. in Nanotechnology were introduced. A separate syllabus for diploma students to make them on a par with the engineering students was introduced. Online assessment and evaluation is also under way.Tamil Nadu Agricultural University did not lag behind. It got its entire campus 100 per cent Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) connected. It became “the first university in India to introduce e-learning in all its seven constituent colleges”. “The two new courses - B.S. Agri Business Management and B. Tech. in Agricultural Information Technology – became instant hits with overwhelming student response,” says Vice-Chancellor C. Ramasamy. Two inventions got patented. The university also introduced a new paddy variety that is expected to yield fine grain rice.
According to Bharathiar University Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam, the university focussed on “empowerment, enrichment and employment”. “The new college in Valparai benefits nearly 1,200 underprivileged students from the area. The institution of various awards for colleges and allotment of 20 free seats by each college are also novel projects towards empowerment.” “One college adopt one school” and the “Padithathai Pirarukku Padikka Koduppom” schemes were popular extension activities of the university.The university introduced new job-oriented courses and also permitted course conversion. It also revamped more than 50 per cent of its courses. Students had to compulsorily pursue a job-oriented diploma course along with their degree.
The tie-up with foreign universities in the United States, Australia and China enabled setting up of various facilities like nano-facility centre, centre for life sciences, etc., and also admission of foreign students in the university.Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a private university, has successfully tested a prototype of the insulin pump. “This is a great achievement in the field of research and development in bio-medical engineering. The new School of Communication with five specialisations and the new B. Tech. course in Aerospace Engineering are unique in several respects,” says the university’s Chief Operating Officer Abhayamitra Chaitanya. The students involved themselves in weekend extension activities by coaching X and XII standard students living in the neighbouring villages. The university tied up with corporates, both in India and abroad, for its students to do a six-month paid internship in the last semester.
Karunya University decided to become a green campus. Mass cultivation of jatropha in more than 200 acres was taken up for bio-mass production.The university has tied up with various multinational companies to offer new programmes. “It also introduced a B. Ed. programme that was a huge success,” says its Registrar Anne Mary Fernandez.These are just samples of the measures the institutions have taken in 2007 to equip their students in various capacities.The common thread that runs in their activities is addressing issues like the increased use of technology, communication skills, global education, industry exposure, community service and reaching out to the deserving students.How are they going to continue with the rising challenges? What are their goals for 2008? Will their efforts help in increasing the number of students going in for higher education?To be conculed.
