Hyderabad: Nine autonomous degree colleges of Osmania University in the city will implement cluster system to provide flexibility for students to pursue courses of their choice in different disciplines from this academic year—2021-2022.
On Friday, Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) chairman T Papi Reddy and vice chairman R Limbadri held a meeting with principals of the nine colleges to discuss the modalities and pave the way for implementation of the new system.
The nine colleges include Osmania University College for Women, Koti; Nizam College; Government City College; Government Degree College for Women, Begumpet; Raja Bahadur Venkat Rama Reddy Women’s College, Narayanguda; St. Ann’s College for Women, Mehdipatnam; St. Francis College for Women, Begumpet; Bhavan’s Degree College, Sainikpuri, and Loyola Academy.
“The cluster system will facilitate mobility of students and faculty from one institution to another institution. For instance, a BA History, Economics and Political Science student of one institution can pursue a Psychology or Mass Communication course being offered by another institution or vice-versa. Similarly, the teaching faculty can be exchanged between the institutions,” Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) Chairman Prof T Papi Reddy explained.
Not just only allowing students to pursue their choice of course, credits assigned to a particular course will be transferred upon completion. This new system will be implemented between institutions by entering into an agreement.
The committees are tasked to study and prepare a schedule for delivering courses and how courses and resources are shared between institutions. They have asked to submit a report within 15 days. TSCHE will monitor the faculties while Osmania University will monitor the cluster system.
“We are yet to finalise the number of agreements that can be made between the colleges under the cluster system. It could be between two or three institutions to start with,” Telangana Today quoted TSCHE vice-chairman Prof R Limbadri as saying.
Prof Limbadri said that apart from ensuring students’ flexibility in courses, the cluster system would also help in sharing resources such as the library, laboratory, infrastructure and human resources.