Creating Centres of Excellence: Each state university may develop at least one centre of excellence in a discipline considering its own human resource endowments and regional requirements. Existing models either in the Central Universities or research centres in this regard may be studied. It is also necessary to study success models of coordination and collaboration between and State universities and Central Universities and research laboratories.

Autonomous Institute Affiliated to a Govt. University but does not follow its syllabus or curriculum.

Examples : VJTI, Mumbai; COEP, Pune; BMSCE, Bangalore; PESIT, Bangalore; CBIT, Hyderabad; Sreenidhi Inst, Hyderabad

Features:

Autonomous Institute

1. Academic independence which gives it the freedom to revise the syllabus with time and follow a schedule which is more suitable for the set curriculum.2. Exams are conducted by the institute itself and are in accordance with what is being taught during the session.3. Relative grading system where the highest marks obtained by a student decides the marks the others get. So in case of a difficult paper, a low percentage score would not necessarily mean a low GPA.4. Degrees finally awarded by the affiliated University which generally carries a lot of reputation.

Potential DownsidesAutonomous Institute

1. A new kind of syllabus and curriculum can be successfully implemented only after the faculty members are comfortable with it. And this may not be as easy as it may sound.2. No system/body to monitor the promises of the institute in their demand of autonomy, and how far over time have they justified the autonomy they enjoy.

Non-Autonomous Institute: Affiliated to a Govt. University and follows its prescribed syllabus & curriculum.

Examples: SPIT, Mumbai; DJ Sanghvi, Mumbai; PICT, Pune; MIT, Pune; MAIT, New Delhi; BIT, Bangalore; MVIT, Bangalore; UCE (Osmania Univ.), Hyderabad; COE (JNTU), Hyderabad; LDCE, Ahmedabad; CEG (Anna University), Chennai

Non-Autonomous Institute

1. Curriculum is common with many other affiliated institutes and is regulated by a University throughout a certain region (sometimes even an entire state).2. Easy availability and ample options for books (especially local authors)3. Exams are conducted by the affiliated University.

Why do colleges seek autonomy?Autonomy for a college indicates a couple of positive things about the college:

1. The desire of the college to set free from the traditional and at times a standard approach of educating a student in a particular field, in fact, the UGC appeals more and more institutions to in the country to becomes autonomous so as to improve the standard of education.

2. The college is equipped with the right kind of infrastructure and the faculties to support them with the new and improved syllabus.

3. The working and the administration (which if politicized, is even worse) at times hinders the college’s desire to excel beyond a limit, so they demand for an autonomy.

4. Introduce better practices in the system which they can now frame for themselves, so better and fairer evaluation, things follow schedule, and operations get smoother.

5. And obviously in the popular culture autonomous have a higher status compared to their counter-parts, as it indicates a superiority and prestige.

6. In case of financial autonomy for a college, it would mean that the college can decide the fees a student would have to pay, but most colleges do not misuse this power.

7. And a few lesser significant reasons also but none worth from a student’s perspective.