Mumbai: Students are likely to get more freedom in selecting their choice of subjects, courses and streams at the undergraduate level in this new year. The state education ministry plans to start cluster of universities in order to increase options for students and provide them with multiple opportunities for a undergraduate (UG) degree.
One cluster university has already been started in the name of Homi Jehangir Bhabha. Now the education department aims to bring more colleges under this umbrella. Under a cluster university, three to four colleges affiliated to the Mumbai University (MU) will function as an independent cluster university which will be ultimately managed by the state.
The state has given more proposals to Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a holistic scheme of the Centre for development of higher education, mentioning different colleges of the city for this cluster university project. A senior official of state education department said, “Few proposals have been rejected by the centre. But we are working on few more proposals for this project depending on the funding we receive.”
Vinod Tawde, state education minister for school and higher secondary education, told The Free Press Journal, “We plan on starting more cluster universities so that students can have multiple options while deciding their course of study. Students need to have more freedom in selection of subjects and streams and should not be restricted to facilities provided by one particular college.”
Colleges under these cluster universities will get to provide their courses and streams under one masthead. This will give students will get a chance to choose from multiple courses offered by varied colleges. Also, students can adjust their grades by studying different streams according to their field of interest. Faculty members of various colleges have welcomed this move of the education department. While authorities of MU claimed this will reduce burden of MU as these cluster universities will function independently.