Members of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) concluded their three-day inspection of Presidency College on Wednesday by describing the institution as one of the best in the country in terms of research. The team asserted that the college should immediately be granted autonomous status.

S.P. Thyagrajan, chairman of the team and vice-chancellor of Madras University, felt Presidency should approach the state government at once for permission to directly interact with the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the autonomy issue. The college is under the control of the state higher education department.

?The college has immense potential and the students will benefit if the institution is able to expand its activities. Such expansion is possible only if Presidency is granted autonomy in academic and financial matters,? Thyagrajan added.

The panel avoided a comment on the Left Front government?s reluctance in spelling out its stand on Presidency autonomy. According to sources in the higher education department, the government fears that granting autonomy to the college will pave the way for its privatisation.

The NAAC team noted that the college has ongoing research projects worth Rs 2.97 crore, spanning both humanities and the sciences. ?Mobilising grants of such a huge amount is an outstanding performance by any undergraduate institution. There are plenty of universities in the country where the ongoing research grants fall far short of Rs 3 crore,? the chief of the panel stated.