Audit of colleges and universities comes to a halt in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The academic audit of colleges and universities in the state has slowed down with the process halted for the past few months after auditing six institutions.
The audit, designed to learn about the performance, strengths, and weaknesses of universities and autonomous colleges, was launched by the Odisha State Higher Education Council (OSHEC) last year. A target was set to complete the process by the end of 2022, but it is yet to be concluded.
In the first phase, the OSHEC had conducted academic audits of Rama Devi Women’s University and BJB Autonomous College in Bhubaneswar and Prananath (Autonomous) College, Khurda, by March 15 last year. Later, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur, and Shailabala Women’s College, Cuttack, were audited.
Official sources said the process was stopped while the academic audit of Udayanath College of Science and Technology, Adaspur, was in progress. A website, ‘Academic Performance Audit’, was being developed for this work but it could not be launched due to negative comments from higher education department officials, they said. “After this website becomes ready, academic audit work will resume,” said an official of the department.