Crash(ed) Course: File picture of Cotton College

March 7: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has poured cold water on the century-old Cotton College’s proposal to introduce maximum number of career-oriented courses.

A meeting of the UGC officials held in Calcutta on Wednesday refused to approve Cotton College’s move to introduce nearly 21 career-oriented programmes. Sources said the UGC expressed doubts whether the college would be able to run such a large number courses along with the conventional ones.

The UGC held an interface with the leading colleges of eastern India in Calcutta yesterday.

The college has chalked out job-oriented courses on various subjects, including fish farming, insurance, cultural studies, global positioning system, journalism, mass communication and public relations.

Ratul Chandra Rajkhowa, a senior teacher from the zoology department who attended the interface, told The Telegraph that the UGC’s response was a big disappointment for Cotton College. The institution’s plan to promote development of human resource suitable for the job market and self-employment have suffered a major setback because of the commission’s decision.

According to Rajkhowa, the introduction of career-oriented courses would have encouraged incorporation of skill-oriented and value-added courses in the college parallel to conventional ones.

“We tried to convince the UGC that Cotton College being the oldest college in the region deserves to introduce the maximum number of career-oriented courses to meet the emerging challenges in the field of education.

The college has the necessary infrastructure, facilities and manpower to successfully run these courses. But the UGC did not agree to give financial assistance for the proposed 21 career-oriented courses at one go,” he said.

The college is the only full-fledged postgraduate college in the region. It has enrolment of more than 5,000students from higher secondary to PG classes and 244 faculty members. In 1992, former President the late Shankar Dayal Sharma declared the college a centre of excellence.

Sources said since a cloud of uncertainty looms over the issue of granting deemed university status to Cotton College, the institution is now focused on introducing career and job-oriented courses.

“No one after completing his studies in an institution like Cotton College wants to sit idle at home,” the source said.

Rajkhowa, however, said the college has not yet lost hope. It would make further attempts to convince the UGC. He said even though the college would not be able to introduce all the career-oriented programmes immediately, it can introduce at least two courses.