New Delhi: 250 institutions from across the country met at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to decide action-plan to set up community colleges in all parts of the country.
The conference was attended by noted social workers from some NGOs, vice Chancellors of state level open universities, UGC member Fr. Xavier Alphonse, representatives of leading organizations in the movement like Young Men's Christian Association and All India Women Council.
The conference was presided over by Prof. V. N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU.
Speaking on the occasion Prof. Pilai said, "The movement has its seed in the 11th Plan outlay of the nation, in which Planning Commission had identified Community College mode strong enough to disseminate education to all segments of the society."
The meeting held recently conceptualized the community colleges the way these are likely to impact the society and the country's education scenario.
Regional meetings of experts, NGOs, governmental and semi-governmental agencies and interested academics of all disciplines to identify and tie-up with formal colleges, finalise programmes and contextualise course contents to start Associate Degree programmes from the July cycle will be convened by the university in about 10 states.
Similar efforts will gradually be extended to other states in the next phase for starting the move there, maybe, from the January cycle of 2010.
The university expert committee for the project is busy at present at fine-tuning the current plan. The committee comprises subject experts from states and IGNOU representatives. They would oversee academic planning, develop curricular framework and management of the Community Colleges.
The members of the committee will also ensure judicious blend of theory and practice, locale-specific needs clearly integrated and industry-community linkages.
The colleges, which will offer the two-year Associate Degree programmes from the ensuing July cycle, are also likely to be identified in the month of May.
Community Colleges, which would register with IGNOU, would have to offer Associate Degree on a range of job-oriented industry-trained academic programmes, at affordable costs.
The philosophy is: These are colleges by the community, for the community and of the community. The rationale is: These colleges must be able to offer opportunities to all segments of the disadvantaged people.
They would encourage students who may want to attend a 3-year degree programme but can not get entry to a formal conventional college due to academic, personal or financial problems. These students would be able to choose from hundreds of academic and technical fields of studies, for their Associate Degrees, which would enable them to get transfer to regular colleges into the third year of the choice degree-courses to become graduates.
"The community colleges will be beneficial for school drop-outs, late entrants into higher education, and working people who find entry into the formal system rigid," added Prof. Pillai.
The students would be allowed to pursue continuing education through all meaningful formats - face-to-face, online, full-time and part-time.
The Community Colleges would be governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of founders of colleges, representatives from IGNOU and local representatives of governments or industries etc..
Each of these colleges will also have a College Council, Academic Committee and Examinations Committee. The teachers in these colleges would be practitioners drawn from the communities.
Dr. Latha Pillai Pro-Vice Chancellor of the varsity said, "There was a ground feeling that the Community Colleges will be a revolutionary idea as far as alternative education is concerned."
Soruce:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/
The conference was attended by noted social workers from some NGOs, vice Chancellors of state level open universities, UGC member Fr. Xavier Alphonse, representatives of leading organizations in the movement like Young Men's Christian Association and All India Women Council.
The conference was presided over by Prof. V. N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU.
Speaking on the occasion Prof. Pilai said, "The movement has its seed in the 11th Plan outlay of the nation, in which Planning Commission had identified Community College mode strong enough to disseminate education to all segments of the society."
The meeting held recently conceptualized the community colleges the way these are likely to impact the society and the country's education scenario.
Regional meetings of experts, NGOs, governmental and semi-governmental agencies and interested academics of all disciplines to identify and tie-up with formal colleges, finalise programmes and contextualise course contents to start Associate Degree programmes from the July cycle will be convened by the university in about 10 states.
Similar efforts will gradually be extended to other states in the next phase for starting the move there, maybe, from the January cycle of 2010.
The university expert committee for the project is busy at present at fine-tuning the current plan. The committee comprises subject experts from states and IGNOU representatives. They would oversee academic planning, develop curricular framework and management of the Community Colleges.
The members of the committee will also ensure judicious blend of theory and practice, locale-specific needs clearly integrated and industry-community linkages.
The colleges, which will offer the two-year Associate Degree programmes from the ensuing July cycle, are also likely to be identified in the month of May.
Community Colleges, which would register with IGNOU, would have to offer Associate Degree on a range of job-oriented industry-trained academic programmes, at affordable costs.
The philosophy is: These are colleges by the community, for the community and of the community. The rationale is: These colleges must be able to offer opportunities to all segments of the disadvantaged people.
They would encourage students who may want to attend a 3-year degree programme but can not get entry to a formal conventional college due to academic, personal or financial problems. These students would be able to choose from hundreds of academic and technical fields of studies, for their Associate Degrees, which would enable them to get transfer to regular colleges into the third year of the choice degree-courses to become graduates.
"The community colleges will be beneficial for school drop-outs, late entrants into higher education, and working people who find entry into the formal system rigid," added Prof. Pillai.
The students would be allowed to pursue continuing education through all meaningful formats - face-to-face, online, full-time and part-time.
The Community Colleges would be governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of founders of colleges, representatives from IGNOU and local representatives of governments or industries etc..
Each of these colleges will also have a College Council, Academic Committee and Examinations Committee. The teachers in these colleges would be practitioners drawn from the communities.
Dr. Latha Pillai Pro-Vice Chancellor of the varsity said, "There was a ground feeling that the Community Colleges will be a revolutionary idea as far as alternative education is concerned."
Soruce:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/
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