The state government has asked the government-aided and autonomous colleges to submit data on the self-financed programmes that the institutions are
conducting.

The colleges have been told to fill a Google form, giving details like whether the colleges run any self-financed programme, specify the number of such courses and the total number of contractual teachers and non-teaching staff who have been engaged to impact these courses.

A higher education department official said they want to compile data on the number of self-financed programmes that are being run.

“The new higher education minister wants to have the data. Several self-financed programmes are being run in new-age areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and data science by the colleges,” said the official.

Jagannath Chattopadhyay was appointed higher education minister last month.

Since the traditional courses are not able to attract students in adequate numbers, various models are being tried, the official said.

Ramakrishna Mission Residential College in Narendrapur last year introduced a specialised two-year MSc in data science and AI.

This self-financed, postgraduate programme provides training in machine learning, data analytics, and ethical AI.

The Narendrapur college is all set to launch a postgraduate diploma programme in applied geoinformatics from this academic year

Behala College, which attained autonomous status this year, has introduced self-financed BSc programmes in cybersecurity, multimedia, and web development.

St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Burdwan, which was granted autonomous status this February by the UGC, has introduced BSc in data science and BA in tourism and hospitality management in self-financed mode.

“We launched courses in the areas going beyond the traditional disciplines in the self-financed mode, so the relevant infrastructure could be developed. The college has shared the data as sought by the department,” said the principal of an autonomous college.