KOZHIKODE: Despite the University Grants Commission (UGC) issuing a direction two years ago to all Universities and colleges to update their respective websites by displaying details regarding the admission process, courses, seats, academic calendar, faculty and scholarships available, many of the colleges under Calicut University have yet to comply. The UGC issued the direction in order to benefit students and their parents who sought admissions to compare the quality of academics, benefits and facilities available in the institutions before taking admissions.
It was on July 2, 2015 UGC Secretary Dr Jaspal S. Sandhu sent letters to varsities and colleges regarding the website update. The letter said the institutions should display the details on admission procedures, availability of seats, profile of teachers faculty-wise, academic calendar and activities, student centric facilities, placement profiles of pass -outs, relevant approvals from statutory bodies, students grievances mechanisms, accreditation, scholarships etc in website. Based on that order, the then vice chancellor Dr M Abdul Salam had on July 7, 2015, directed all affiliated colleges to implement it within 15 days. However many are yet to comply even after two years have passed.
“The colleges are updating details regarding the faculty members in the data management system of the varsity for effective conduct of the examinations. However I am not aware of the present status of the UGC direction on the website update,” said College Development Council Director Dr Santhosh Namby. Though most of the aided colleges have complied to an extent, a majority of unaided self-financing colleges are yet to fall in line. “The UGC direction is intended to help the student choose the best institution for his higher studies. However many are not complying because that would reveal their true colours and would lessen their chances of getting quality students. We hope that the academic auditing planned by the University to assess the quality of academics in affiliated colleges would cover this important issue,” added Calicut University Syndicate member Dr P. Sivadasan.
