Madras varsity to change name of its HRD Centre in line with UGC norms

Varsity to also introduce ABC IDs to all students in all its various programmes

Two items featured in the agenda of the Senate meeting of the University of Madras, to be held on Saturday, have come as a surprise.

The University’s syndicate in its in-circulation meeting on March 22 this year resolved that the institution’s Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC) be renamed Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre. The name change has been necessitated following University Grants Commission’s (UGC) guidelines in this regard on September 5, 2023. The UGC has been funding the HRDC since its inception in 1986, when it was called the Academic Staff College (ASC). In 2015, the ASC was renamed as Human Resource Development Centre.

The Centre trains assistant and associate professors from government colleges through refresher courses, besides conducting faculty-induction programmes and short-term courses. The UGC has instructed universities to conduct 12 training programmes on the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. But the University has not conducted them as the State is opposed to the NEP, said a source.

“It is surprising how the University is stretching it to the extent of renaming the Centre itself,” said a senior professor, wondering if it indicated “a policy shift and climb down of the State government’s stand”, especially when the government had refused to comply with the UGC norms to include its nominee in the Vice-Chancellor search panel.

In another decision, the Senate is expected to approve the creation of IDs for students to enable them store their credits through the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC). The ABC IDs are for all students enrolled in the various courses of the university.

The UGC has been urging universities to implement the ABC for all its courses, including the distance-education programmes and aided and self-financing institutions as well. The ABC is a key component of NEP 2020. The ABC is a digital record of a student’s academic credits to enable students’ movement among educational institutions during the course of their academic journey.

Published - October 25, 2024 11:32 pm IST