New beginnings: St Xavier?s students in the college corridor

Winds of change are blowing across campuses in Calcutta and the buzzword is autonomy. With Calcutta University granting independence to the postgraduate departments of affiliated colleges last month, the ball has been set rolling. And St Xavier?s College could be the first to take advantage of the new situation. The century-old institution has drawn up an elaborate plan to run the college once it is granted autonomy next year. It is even considering setting up a postgraduate department on the lines of Presidency College.

The college has lined up seminars and workshops to ?prepare teachers? from March, 2005. There will be three focus areas: drawing up the syllabus, teaching methodology and a self-controlled evaluation system. ?We shall also have the freedom to form our admission norms under the guidance of the university,? says principal, Fr P.C. Mathew. ?This will mean greater responsibility on us. We can no longer blame the university if anything goes wrong.?

Boards of studies are going to be set up for each subject as required by the UGC. The college plans to rework the course and introduce specialisations within each discipline.

But the most significant post-autonomy change could be the evaluation system. Once autonomy comes through, colleges will be allowed to assess their own students. St Xavier?s, in fact, plans to be more lenient with marking so that deserving students can score higher marks and compete at the national level. ?It?s very difficult to get a first-class in our university while good students from other states easily score in excess of 60 per cent. As a result, our students get ruled out of most competitive exams,? says Fr Mathew.

The present marks system could make way for grades or a credit-based assessment. There could be more objective-type questions as well. This is being done keeping in mind students from ICSE and CBSE boards who are more used to shorter questions. The idea is to make the exams a test of both memory and understanding.

?But these changes can only come about if the colleges are given a reasonably free hand,? points out a senior Presidency College professor. ?For instance, it has been specified that the new syllabus must be approved by the university. If the latter chooses to be liberal then it?s fine. Otherwise, autonomy will remain just a claim.?

Once autonomy comes through, St Xavier?s also plans to overhaul its teaching system making it ?consistent with the exam pattern?. An interactive teaching method is being proposed in place of the existing ?chalk and talk?. Modern technology will make a foray into the classroom too in the form of the Internet and overhead projectors. ?These will revolutionise our approach to teaching,? says Fr Mathew. ?College teachers either rely too much on dictating notes or just stick to the text. We need a modern system that will really benefit the students.?

St Xavier?s teachers are looking forward to the changes. ?We can have term papers and project evaluations that will allow students to be more creative instead of just cramming for exams,? says Prof. Shweta Ghosh.