Bhubaneswar, Oct. 24: The department of higher education has set up district-level cells in 17 government colleges for effective monitoring of infrastructure and overall academic status of government and non-government colleges in the state.

These cells have a consultant each, who has been given the task of monitoring colleges in one or more districts. Secretary of the higher education department Chandra Shekhar Kumar said a state-level monitoring cell within the department would supervise the district cells.

“The district-level consultants act as a link between the state government and the college authorities. They are supposed to visit colleges (assigned to them) to make an on-field assessment of academics and administration. The state cell will monitor the district reports and prepare an overall report for action at our end,” Kumar said. He added the department would soon appoint two state-level consultants from amongst top-notch retired administrators to look after the administrative and academic affairs of all the colleges.

Department officials said the consultants have been asked to review and collect data regarding infrastructure such as land, building, laboratory, library, affiliation, students’ strength, enrolment, admission, academic performance, faculty and staff position, introduction of new subjects, smart classrooms, computer facilities and the utilisation of grants from the government and the University Grants Commission.

BJB College in the capital is among the 17 district-level cells and the consultant will monitor government and non-government colleges of Khurda district.

“This is a good step taken by the government,” said S.N. Mohanty, principal of BJB (Junior) College.

Some other district-level cells are located at: JKBK College, Cuttack, for Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur, FM (Autonomous) College, Balasore, for Balasore, SCS (A) College, Puri, for Puri and Nayagarh, NC (A) College, Jajpur, for Jajpur and Kendrapara, Khalikote (A) College, Berhmapur, for Ganjam and Gajapati, GM (A) College, Sambalpur, for Sambalpur and Deogarh, and Sundergarh (A) College for Sundergarh.