Institutional
Accreditation of the
Presidency
College (Autonomous),
Chennai,
Tamil Nadu
The Presidency College is one of the prestigious educational institutions of higher learning in the country. It made a humble beginning as a preparatory school in a rented building in 1840. Within months of its starting, it was elevated to a High School. Ten years later, it emerged as a collegiate department and was given the name as Presidency College and it shifted to the present campus on the famous Marina beach providing serene atmosphere. Initially, the college was offering B.A. level courses. Subsequently, in 1911, it started honours and M.A. courses; and the M.Sc. courses were started in 1931.
The college has a large campus and spacious buildings; it
has 23 departments offering 19 PG
programmes and 17 UG programmes. Most of the departments offer research
facilities leading to M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. Development continued with the
passage of time and many courses in UG and PG departments were subsequently
offered. The college celebrated its centenary in 1940 and was granted autonomy
in 1987. After receiving autonomy, the
college started offering relevant courses of study some of which are
inter-disciplinary. In the 23 departments there are 244 faculty members, out of
whom 140 are Ph.D. degree holders and 92 are M.Phil. degree holders. The
college has two hostels one for boys and one for girls and there are facilities
for sports.
The college volunteered for assessment by the National
Assessment and Accreditation Council. They furnished the necessary documents
related to physical, financial, academic and co-curricular inputs. NAAC
constituted a peer team with the
following members for visiting the college:
1. Prof. T. Navaneeth Rao, Hyderabad
2. Prof. Rajen Harshe, Hyderabad
3. Prof. Ravikala Kamath, Mumbai
The Peer Team visited the institution for three days from
March 9th to 11th, 1999, to validate the self-study
report submitted by the institution to NAAC. During the visit to the
institution, the team visited all the departments and facilities, perused the
documents presented and interacted with the various constituents of the
institution - members of the executive council, faculty, staff, students and
alumni. Based on the inputs collected and validated through all these sources,
the peer team has arrived at a collective assessment about the functioning of
the institution and the quality of education offered. The assessment of the
Peer Team of the functioning of the institution is given below.
The curricular aspects in the overall development of the
college were viewed in the broader and changing social context by the Peer
Team. It was noted that the faculty along with students worked hard to maintain
good educational standards. Although the college did not state its goals in
explicit ways, it was evident that the existing establishment was struggling to
carry out the admirable institutional practices set by preceding generations.
It could be safely asserted that in its endeavour to build
up curricular aspects, the college was gifted with some obvious assets. For
instance, a large proportion of faculty members already have obtained Ph.D.
Moreover, the autonomous status of the college and financial support of the
UGC, have certainly helped the college in taking a closer look at the
curricular aspect.
It was quite obvious
that the college is finding out ways and means to design job oriented
courses. In this context, the peer team was appraised about the ongoing
dialogue between captains of industry
and lawyers. The college has already started “Electrical Equipment” as a
vocational subject. The Peer Team also paid adequate attention to the system of
periodical updating of courses. This is being done with the help of external
members who act as consultants in various academic bodies.
The infrastructure facilities like playgrounds for outdoor
games have certainly enhanced student participation in sports and games. On the whole, the performance of students in
sports at different levels i.e. inter-college, inter-state etc. has been
satisfactory. In this context, an
active physical education department can always be useful. Certain other
facilities like hostel and canteen services do take care of the accommodation
and refreshments required by the students. However, these facilities need to be
improved. In addition, the college takes care of the health services through
compulsory medical check-up.
The college must bestow greater attention upon development
and maintenance of existing infrastructure and learning resources. In fact, the central library facility needs
to be strengthened. In addition, the equipment in laboratories needs to be upgraded.
The college has a good record of high pass percentage and
low dropout rate. The progression to
employment and further studies has not been recorded regularly but through
informal contacts and alumni information some data is available. Some
departments arrange for campus interviews and successfully place their
students. A few departments enable students to have training inputs in the industry during the
summer vacation, as a result of which the students are employed by those
institutions.
The college has a very facilitative and transparent admission policy. The
financial aid schemes offered to needy students are commendable. The college also arranges to conduct
tutorials, give remedial courses and offer assistance to students to improve
communication skills.
There is a need to strengthen the alumni
association to help the college through obtaining feedback on various aspects
of the curriculum design, teaching-learning processes, resource generation,
on-the-job training and placement services. The Parent Teacher Association also
can actively contribute to the welfare of the college through well structured
plans.
Academic counselling and career guidance
are services that the college could enhance to support the progression of
students. The provision of
opportunities for recreational
activities on the campus require improvement.
The college can organise
extra-curricular and co-curricular activities regularly and document the
same. A placement cell to cater for the needs of students from various
departments is another requirement that
merits attention.
In a government college, the rules, regulations and service
conditions of faculty and employees are governed by the state. However the
college has an executive committee, comprising a representative from the
government, the Principal of another college, an educationist, three academics
and the principal of the college. They
meet frequently and take decisions from time to time to enable smooth
functioning in all academic and co-curricular activities.
The college receives entire grants from the State
Government for its functioning. The college does not generate any resources
through donations or consultancy or from any other sources excepting from the
government and meager development grants from UGC. The college does not offer
any self-financing course. However, the grants received from the government are
adequate.
Within the constraints noted above, the
committed and loyal faculty work for the benefit of their students. The group
of non-teaching staff ably carries out its duties with dedication. The healthy practices that deserve mention
are:
-
Some faculty are being given
computer training;
-
Remedial classes/courses are
offered to the students particularly in communication and spoken English;
-
Interdisciplinary and
inter-departmental activities are prevalent;
-
Campus interviews are
arranged for the benefit of students;
-
Teachers are consciously aware
of the need for research and are deeply interested in maintaining research
culture despite constraints;
-
Many teachers have presented
papers in seminars;
-
A large number of
publications are made by faculty by individual initiative;
-
Departments and individual
faculty members have sent proposals for conducting or organising innovative
programmes, refresher courses, seminars and research projects;
-
The UGC vocational course has
been introduced in one department and others are motivated to apply for courses
in their field of specialisation; and
-
Many teachers have come
together to offer coaching to students for competitive examinations for Class I
services.
Many of the practices and attempts to improve the
teaching-learning processes occur within the limiting circumstances of the
college and as such reflect the intrinsic motivation of the academic
fraternity. The external environment,
support system and the management need to strive to strengthen and enhance
these efforts and practices.
Section
3: The Summary Recommendations
The peer team is unanimous in its appreciation of this
premier institution’s contribution to higher education, with inputs from
qualified teachers committed to the cause of sound holistic education. Particular mention needs to be made of a
wide variety of programme options available in the college; regularity in
conducting courses; punctuality in announcing examination results, and the
noteworthy research culture maintained amidst constraints. Such culture can be
further strengthened by encouraging faculty to attend national and
international academic events. It must also be noted that the entire
academic ambience has been ably supported by the non-teaching
staff .
The existing infrastructure facilities which have served the
purposes of promoting good education in the past, require to be upgraded as the
college is set to meet new challenges of contemporary times. Nevertheless, the college has been able to
uphold its primacy in teaching through a worthy record of high pass percentage
and low drop out rate. To maintain such record in the future, sustained and
systematic efforts are required on the part of the Management. Indeed, it is
the Management that can shape the initiatives from the departments by
co-ordinating intra and inter-departmental activities harmoniously. Further,
the Management can give direction for generating of resources and for providing
the impetus to the academic initiatives stemming from the teaching fraternity.
Such efforts would help to minimize procedural delays and enhance the quality
of overall performance. This would enable the college to produce excellent
students like their illustrious predecessors.