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 Downsides

Autonomous
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 1. Curriculum is common with many other affiliated institutes and is regulated by a
Institute
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
colleges 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 students perspective.