Top colleges to award own degrees?
NEW DELHI: Top colleges in the country like St Stephen's in Delhi and St Xavier's in Kolkata may be allowed to give their own degrees if the recommendation of a committee set up by the HRD ministry is accepted. The ministry has in fact set up a panel to create a roadmap for implementing the recommendations of the Madhav Menon committee about autonomy in higher education — which suggested that top colleges be allowed to give degrees — and reports by committee of vice-chancellors on issues like centralized admission test. On the issue of colleges awarding degrees, sources said: "It all depends on what the HRD committee thinks." The panel consists of the special secretary, two additional secretaries, the joint secretary, higher eduction, chairpersons of the UGC and AICTE, and two members to be co-opted from the Menon and VCs' committee. Earlier this month, the Menon panel had said there was a need for paradigm shift in the way higher education is conducted in the cou...