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Cover Story
India’s Top 100 non-autonomous ASC colleges

The reasons why India’s most
respected and preferred undergrad
colleges — the high parameter rat-
ings and total scores awarded by EW
sample respondents to St. Stephen’s,
Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady
Shri Ram, by far outstrips the totals
of top-ranked private autonomous
Arts, Science and Commerce (ASC)
colleges — is a matter of conjecture
and speculation because academics
are reluctant to air their views on the
subject. However, it’s pertinent to
note that the majority of top-ranked
non-autonomous ASC colleges are
affiliated with Delhi University.
“Delhi University is a Central
government-funded institution which
receives generous grants from the
government-controlled UGC (Univer-
St. Stephen’s, Delhi principal John Varghese (left): frustrating silence sity Grants Commission). Therefore,
its affiliated colleges have superior
Although several colleges affiliated with Delhi University infrastructure and well-paid, high
are the most popular and preferred countrywide quality faculty for which students pay
paltry highly-subsidised tuition fees.
and eminently eligible, they haven’t been conferred By appointing pliant UGC chairmen
autonomous status and are tied to the apron strings of DU and Delhi University vice chancel-
lors, politicians and bureaucrats in
the capital exercise great control over
t’s a measure of the bewilder- duce new study programmes, recruit India’s best undergrad colleges, and
ingly complex and irrational faculty and exercise the academic and their chits and/or phone calls can
higher education regulatory operational flexibility awarded to less ensure admission for their favourites
Isystem devised by post-indepen- distinguished private and govern- into them as students and faculty.
dence India’s omniscient neta-babu ment autonomous colleges. They are very reluctant to give up
brotherhood under the cloak of Paradoxically, some private non- this power. Those who control Delhi
socialism, that while 871 (of 45,000) autonomous undergrad colleges — University ipso facto control its top-
colleges countrywide have been especially of Delhi University — are ranked affiliate colleges. Secondly,
conferred autonomous status, India’s the favourites of higher secondary teachers’ unions grouped under
most popular undergrad colleges — school-leavers countrywide and DUTA (Delhi University Teachers
St. Stephen’s, Shri Ram College of attract a hailstorm of admission ap- Association) are opposed to collegiate
Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College plications. Consequently for supply- autonomy. Autonomous colleges
for Women, Miranda House — are demand reasons, they are obliged have the right to hire and fire lazy,
non-autonomous institutions of ter- to prescribe sky-high cut-off grades incompetent teachers. On the other
tiary education. Despite their proven in class XII board exams, and admit hand, tenure of affiliated non-auton-
track records of academic excellence, only a small minority of applicants omous college faculty is subject to the
these among other colleges, provid- with the highest scores in board approval of DU and they can only be
ing infinitely superior education have exams. A substantial number among fired by the university. Thus teachers’
been denied autonomy for decades. them were established over a cen- union members who receive large
They are still tied to the apron strings tury ago and have devised excellent inflation-adjusted Pay Commission
of Delhi University and denied the teaching-learning and administrative salaries, are in favour of the status
freedom of syllabus design, to intro- systems. quo. There’s safety in numbers,” says

66 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2022