Bhubaneswar, Sept. 17: Principals of the 32 autonomous colleges of Odisha and vice-chancellors of five state universities today rejected the idea of complete homogeneity in syllabi, saying that they should also reflect local topics.

Expressing their views at a brainstorming session on reforms in Plus Three exams in autonomous colleges, they demanded that teachers must be given the “intellectual freedom” to frame the course curricula for their respective colleges. “While the major part of the syllabi can be common for all colleges, at least 20 to 25 per cent of it should highlight local issues. Each college should have full-time exam controllers, so that teachers are not burdened with exam duty and can devote time to research work,” said vice-chancellor of Berhampur University D.K. Behera. His suggestion was backed by a majority of participants.

A higher education official, who moderated the debate among the academics, said they were considering introduction of a common academic calendar for all the autonomous colleges, which would mean conduct of exams and publication of results at the same time.

“The colleges will be given autonomy to conduct the internal exams. But for the end-term exams, we are of the opinion that questions should be set by the board of studies of each college and sent to an expert committee. The committee, led by higher education director with vice-chancellors of various universities as members, will decide the final question paper after taking the opinion of the subject experts. We will announce the common guidelines within a month,” said higher education secretary Gagan Kumar Dhal.

Dhal said a state government team would conduct quality audits at each of the 32 autonomous institutions. “We are also exploring the possibility of putting in place a central evaluation system for uniform pattern of awarding marks. We are also trying to fill up teaching vacancies by mid-November,” said Dhal. The participants, however, disagreed with the idea of central evaluation, stating that it would hamper their autonomous status and asked for complete freedom in academic, administrative and financial matters.

Former director of the higher education Satyakam Mishra, who is instrumental in initiating the exam reform process in colleges, said the exercise was not aimed to curtail the colleges’ freedom, but an effort to regulate them. “It has been seen that students of autonomous colleges score better marks than their counterparts in other colleges. So, we want their answer scripts to be evaluated by external examiners while all the chief examiners and moderators are appointed from outside the college,” he said.

Mishra said the government was considering a proposal to set up a council of autonomous colleges to ensure that parameters for quality education were met. “The proposed body would look after the entire pedagogy, inclusion of relevant topics in the syllabus, when and how it should be upgraded,” he said.

Some principals called for the formation of a “focus group” consisting of eminent scholars across the country to frame a competitive course curriculum. Others demanded that self-financing courses be discontinued at autonomous colleges. However, government officials turned down the request.