The move to grant autonomy to Presidency College has become part of the institution?s illustrious history. The idea was first mooted in print in 1972 as an editorial statement in the college magazine. The timing was deliberate since a team of experts from the University Grants Commission was visiting the college and the University of Calcutta. The UGC team thought that the claim was valid and promoted the idea. Since that time, successive teams from the UGC and experts in the field of higher education have argued that Presidency College should be autonomous of Calcutta University and should have degree-awarding status. But the idea has faced only opposition within the portals of Calcutta University, and in the corridors of power in Writers? Buildings and in the backrooms of the headquarters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Alimuddin Street. The opposition grows out of nothing save vested interests. The latest statement of the state education minister, Mr Satyasadhan Chakraborty, illustrates this. The chief minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has promised to personally intervene in the matter and ensure that the promise of autonomy is fulfilled.

It speaks volumes about the state of higher education in West Bengal that it will take the intervention of the chief minister, coincidentally an alumnus of the college, to bring to Presidency College what it has deserved for many decades. The argument for autonomy is self-evident. The centralization now enjoyed by Calcutta University in terms of syllabi and examination has a detrimental effect on the pursuit of academic excellence. The sheer number of students in Calcutta University adversely affects quality. It often results in unjust marking. The only viable remedy is to grant the affiliated colleges autonomy. Presidency College, given its history, can be a pace-setter in this regard. People in power in West Bengal and in Calcutta University do not see the logic because they are incapable of extricating the aims of higher education from petty political goals. The CPI(M) sees the issue through the prism of teachers? unions, and those in Calcutta University are paranoid about relinquishing control. If Mr Bhattacharjee, as a lone crusader within his own party, succeeds in bringing autonomy to Presidency College, he will have done his alma mater and the cause of education in West Bengal some service.