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INTRODUCTION
Lumding College, located at Lumding in Nagaon District of Assam, is an affiliated college of Guwahati University. Established in August 1959, it is presently a grant-in-aid college. The campus area is 4.3 acres in a semi-urban setting. Fourteen undergraduate programmes of which eleven are taught at the honours level, are offered. Lumding is a small railway township surrounded by hills and villages primarily inhabited by cultivators and geographically separated from the nearest township by about 40 Km by dense forests. The college has been recognised in 1965 under 2f and in 1986 under 12b of the UGC Act. There are 48 permanent teachers, six temporary teachers and five part-time teachers, constituting a total of 61 teaching staff, the supporting staff number being 23. The number of students in the current academic year has been a total of 619 in undergraduate courses and 30 in self-financing courses. The unit cost of education including salary was Rs.12,719/- and the same excluding salary component was Rs.769/-. The temporal plan of academic work is annual system. The support services available in the college include Central Library, sports facilities, canteen and Grievance Redressal Cell.
The principal goal of the college has been to provide collegiate education to the youths of the locality at a low cost. Initially, the institution was started with courses in Arts. Within a few years of its starting, it began to provide Honours Courses in all the Arts subjects. Science courses were started in 1984. Commerce course was started in 1995.
The college volunteered to be assessed and accredited by submitting a Self Study Report to the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. In response to this request, the NAAC constituted a Peer Team consisting of Prof. M.C. Das, Former Vice-Chancellor, Sambalpur University, Orissa as Chairman; Prof. V.Balamohandas, Dept. of Commerce and Management Studies, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh as Member Co-ordinator and Prof. Swami Suparnananda, Principal, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata, West Bengal as another Member. The Co-coordinating Officer from NAAC is Dr. K.N. Madhusudanan Pillai, Academic Consultant, NAAC, Bangalore. In the last minute on 23rd Sept, 2004, Prof. M.C.Das expressed his inability to join the Peer Team when the Member-Coordinator contacted him over phone from Calcutta Airport. The same thing was conveyed to the NAAC office immediately by the Member-Coordinator. Prof. V.Balamohandas has been asked to be the Chairman Coordinator. Dr. N.Pandey, Dept. of Geology, Nagaland University, Kohima,Nagaland has been appointed as another Member. The Peer Team visited the college for two days i.e. 24-25th September 2004.
The Peer Team carefully perused and analysed the Self Study Report sent by the institution. During the institutional visit, the Peer Team went through all the relevant supportive documents and papers submitted. The Peer Team visited all the academic departments and various facilities such as library, science labs, computer lab, sports and games facilities, etc. The Peer Team also had extensive interactive sessions with the Principal, the faculty, the students, non-teaching staff, parents, alumni and functionaries of the various associations and extension activity groups. The Peer Team has verified all the data, which throw light on the strengths, performance and achievements of different departments in its endeavor to make an overall assessment of the college on the basis of the seven criteria identified by the NAAC.
CURRICULAR ASPECTS
The college was taken under the grants-in-aid by the Government of Assam in 1972. As an affiliated college of Guwahati University, the college follows the course structure and the syllabi prescribed by the university for all its courses. The college cannot exercise any flexibility in terms of curricular aspects. The college offers courses in B.A., B.Sc., and B.Com. both in Pass and Honours courses. It also offers certificate courses in Computer Basics and Office Automation. The diploma courses offered include Diploma in Office Automation and Financial Accounting, Diploma in Computer Applications, Advanced Diploma in Computer Applications, Advanced Diploma in Computer Programming, and Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Application. The Computer Diploma courses have been introduced with the support of CDAC. Some of the faculty members are invited by the University for curriculum designing at periodical intervals especially in the Department of Bengali, Department of Geology, Department of Political Science and the Department of English. The curriculum has often been found to be stereo-typed and does not cater to the future needs of the students. However, since this is an affiliated college, the view points of the teachers are not reflected totally in the curricula design.
TEACHING, LEARNING AND EVALUATION
Lumding College caters to the needs of mostly the local area. The students are admitted into various courses on the basis of their academic record at the qualifying examination. About 25 percent of the students admitted belong to scheduled caste category. One month after the admission, the students are made to appear a unit test conducted by the departments. The unit test helps the departments to sort out the students into educationally disadvantaged category, average students and advanced learners. Bridge/remedial courses are offered to the educationally disadvantaged students. The advanced learners are encouraged by special academic counseling and a provision of lending them more number of books from the library. The advanced learners are also allowed to use the computer and also the internet facility free of cost. The teachers are required to make a teaching plan and implement the same. The instruction in different subjects is imparted through four un-utilized schedules. A unit test is conducted at the end of the completion of each unit of syllabus. The traditional method of teaching is supplemented by tutorials, question - answer sessions, group discussions, etc.
The students are provided with the prospectus with all the required information. The number of working days of the college during the last year was 274. The number of teaching days were 227. 90 per cent of the classes are engaged by the full-time faculty. The recruitment of the teachers is done as per the guidelines of state government. The college has the freedom to make adhoc/temporary appointments of teachers for a period not exceeding 45 days at stretch as a rule.
The salaries of all the permanent teachers and all the supporting staff are paid by the Government. The temporary teachers are paid from the college funds. Students' feedback on their campus experience is collected. The monitoring committee analyses the feedback and takes appropriate measures wherever necessary. Occasionally, a few seminars are conducted by the college where in experts from outside Lumding are also invited to participate. A 'News - Corner' highlighting the current affairs is maintained under the aegis of a group of teachers and students. A thought for the day/week is selected and displayed in another corner with the objective of providing a strong positive direction to the young minds.
RESEARCH, CONSULTANCY AND EXTENSION
Of the total 59 teachers, four possess Ph.D. Degree and eight teachers possess M.Phil Degree. Besides, a few teachers have registered as part-time research scholars. Faculty members have a potential for further research that needs to be exploited. Research does not seem to be a significant activity of the college as of today. No consultancy service is undertaken by any of the faculty. On the extension services, the college has been active in and around the locality in collaboration with the local non-governmental organisation like Gharao, Pragati Mancha and Help. Medical camps providing free health checkup, blood group test camps, first aid camps, environment and health and hygiene awareness programmes, AIDS awareness programmes, etc. are held. Students also participate in adult literacy drive in rural areas. There is no NCC wing in the college. A teacher is designated as additional charge for extension services.
INFRASTURCTURE AND LEARNING RESOURCES
The college is located in an area of 4.5 acres. The total built up area is at present 3,241 Sq. Mtrs. The college does not have adequate resources of its own to meet the needs of augmenting the infrastructure. The Government does not provide funds for maintenance of the infrastructure.
An amount of Rs.160 per annum towards building fee and development fee is collected from all the students. The college occasionally seeks donations from teachers, students and outsiders to meet specific projects. A seven member committee of teachers is constituted for proper maintenance of the infrastructure. The building infrastructure is occasionally used by outside agencies like the Railway authorities, NGOs, etc. Attempts are made to keep the campus the clean. Use of plastic tea cups, etc., is prohibited in the campus.
The Library consists of 11,258 volumes and 20 periodicals. The total number of working days of the library during the last year was 274. Apart from this Central Library, a few departments have departmental libraries. The library is open for eight hours in a day. There is no central computer facility in the college. The Department of Physics has got two computers. The sports facilities are reasonably good with infrastructure facilities for football, volley ball, cricket, table tennis, caroms, badminton, chess etc. There is a provision of an incentive of Rs.300/- per annum for outstanding sports persons. However, the participation of students in sports at all levels is not encouraging. There is no hostel either for boys or girls.
STUDENTS SUPPORT AND PROGRESSION
The college faculty put in their efforts for the progression and betterment of their students. About 92 percent of the students appear for their final year examinations. The drop out rate is about 8 percent. Average pass percentage of the college varies in between 55 and 60. While there have been a few instances of top ranks in the past, the same trend could not be consistently maintained in the resent past. The college does not have any record of students progression to employment. The Alumni of the college occupy positions of prominence in different fields in Assam. The beneficiaries of scholarships during the last year include 40 students in SC category and 10 students for half fee. The college guides the students through a Carrier Guidance Cell. A teacher who is proficient in Entrepreneurship is in charge of this Cell. The college has an alumni association, which takes active interest in the annual celebrations of the Foundation Day of the college (14th August). It also actively participates in sports and cultural programmes. In the week-long celebration of the college Week, one day is exclusively meant for the alumni. The alumni association has donated Rs.1,20,000/- to the college in the years 2003 and 2004.
ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
The overall administration of the college is taken care by a Governing Body, which is constituted by the Government of Assam. The Principal of the College is the Secretary of Governing Body. All the administrative decisions of the Governing Body are subject to the approval of the Director of Higher Education, Assam. Various Bodies and Committees are constituted with the faculty to monitor the different academic activities of the college. A Grievance Cell works with reference to teaching staff and non-teaching staff. However, there is no separate grievance cell to look into the ordinary grievances of the students. They are generally handled by the Principal of the College. No efforts are made to get financial support from various funding agencies such as UGC, Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Sports, etc. for special scheme and projects. The employees are eligible for a loan for a genuine cause from the college fund to a maximum of Rs.25,000/- at the prevailing bank rate of interest and repayable at 12 equal instalments. However, not many employees have been the beneficiaries of this facility in view of resource- crunch.
Lumding College, located at Lumding in Nagaon District of Assam, is an affiliated college of Guwahati University. Established in August 1959, it is presently a grant-in-aid college. The campus area is 4.3 acres in a semi-urban setting. Fourteen undergraduate programmes of which eleven are taught at the honours level, are offered. Lumding is a small railway township surrounded by hills and villages primarily inhabited by cultivators and geographically separated from the nearest township by about 40 Km by dense forests. The college has been recognised in 1965 under 2f and in 1986 under 12b of the UGC Act. There are 48 permanent teachers, six temporary teachers and five part-time teachers, constituting a total of 61 teaching staff, the supporting staff number being 23. The number of students in the current academic year has been a total of 619 in undergraduate courses and 30 in self-financing courses. The unit cost of education including salary was Rs.12,719/- and the same excluding salary component was Rs.769/-. The temporal plan of academic work is annual system. The support services available in the college include Central Library, sports facilities, canteen and Grievance Redressal Cell.
The principal goal of the college has been to provide collegiate education to the youths of the locality at a low cost. Initially, the institution was started with courses in Arts. Within a few years of its starting, it began to provide Honours Courses in all the Arts subjects. Science courses were started in 1984. Commerce course was started in 1995.
The college volunteered to be assessed and accredited by submitting a Self Study Report to the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. In response to this request, the NAAC constituted a Peer Team consisting of Prof. M.C. Das, Former Vice-Chancellor, Sambalpur University, Orissa as Chairman; Prof. V.Balamohandas, Dept. of Commerce and Management Studies, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh as Member Co-ordinator and Prof. Swami Suparnananda, Principal, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata, West Bengal as another Member. The Co-coordinating Officer from NAAC is Dr. K.N. Madhusudanan Pillai, Academic Consultant, NAAC, Bangalore. In the last minute on 23rd Sept, 2004, Prof. M.C.Das expressed his inability to join the Peer Team when the Member-Coordinator contacted him over phone from Calcutta Airport. The same thing was conveyed to the NAAC office immediately by the Member-Coordinator. Prof. V.Balamohandas has been asked to be the Chairman Coordinator. Dr. N.Pandey, Dept. of Geology, Nagaland University, Kohima,Nagaland has been appointed as another Member. The Peer Team visited the college for two days i.e. 24-25th September 2004.
The Peer Team carefully perused and analysed the Self Study Report sent by the institution. During the institutional visit, the Peer Team went through all the relevant supportive documents and papers submitted. The Peer Team visited all the academic departments and various facilities such as library, science labs, computer lab, sports and games facilities, etc. The Peer Team also had extensive interactive sessions with the Principal, the faculty, the students, non-teaching staff, parents, alumni and functionaries of the various associations and extension activity groups. The Peer Team has verified all the data, which throw light on the strengths, performance and achievements of different departments in its endeavor to make an overall assessment of the college on the basis of the seven criteria identified by the NAAC.
CURRICULAR ASPECTS
The college was taken under the grants-in-aid by the Government of Assam in 1972. As an affiliated college of Guwahati University, the college follows the course structure and the syllabi prescribed by the university for all its courses. The college cannot exercise any flexibility in terms of curricular aspects. The college offers courses in B.A., B.Sc., and B.Com. both in Pass and Honours courses. It also offers certificate courses in Computer Basics and Office Automation. The diploma courses offered include Diploma in Office Automation and Financial Accounting, Diploma in Computer Applications, Advanced Diploma in Computer Applications, Advanced Diploma in Computer Programming, and Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Application. The Computer Diploma courses have been introduced with the support of CDAC. Some of the faculty members are invited by the University for curriculum designing at periodical intervals especially in the Department of Bengali, Department of Geology, Department of Political Science and the Department of English. The curriculum has often been found to be stereo-typed and does not cater to the future needs of the students. However, since this is an affiliated college, the view points of the teachers are not reflected totally in the curricula design.
TEACHING, LEARNING AND EVALUATION
Lumding College caters to the needs of mostly the local area. The students are admitted into various courses on the basis of their academic record at the qualifying examination. About 25 percent of the students admitted belong to scheduled caste category. One month after the admission, the students are made to appear a unit test conducted by the departments. The unit test helps the departments to sort out the students into educationally disadvantaged category, average students and advanced learners. Bridge/remedial courses are offered to the educationally disadvantaged students. The advanced learners are encouraged by special academic counseling and a provision of lending them more number of books from the library. The advanced learners are also allowed to use the computer and also the internet facility free of cost. The teachers are required to make a teaching plan and implement the same. The instruction in different subjects is imparted through four un-utilized schedules. A unit test is conducted at the end of the completion of each unit of syllabus. The traditional method of teaching is supplemented by tutorials, question - answer sessions, group discussions, etc.
The students are provided with the prospectus with all the required information. The number of working days of the college during the last year was 274. The number of teaching days were 227. 90 per cent of the classes are engaged by the full-time faculty. The recruitment of the teachers is done as per the guidelines of state government. The college has the freedom to make adhoc/temporary appointments of teachers for a period not exceeding 45 days at stretch as a rule.
The salaries of all the permanent teachers and all the supporting staff are paid by the Government. The temporary teachers are paid from the college funds. Students' feedback on their campus experience is collected. The monitoring committee analyses the feedback and takes appropriate measures wherever necessary. Occasionally, a few seminars are conducted by the college where in experts from outside Lumding are also invited to participate. A 'News - Corner' highlighting the current affairs is maintained under the aegis of a group of teachers and students. A thought for the day/week is selected and displayed in another corner with the objective of providing a strong positive direction to the young minds.
RESEARCH, CONSULTANCY AND EXTENSION
Of the total 59 teachers, four possess Ph.D. Degree and eight teachers possess M.Phil Degree. Besides, a few teachers have registered as part-time research scholars. Faculty members have a potential for further research that needs to be exploited. Research does not seem to be a significant activity of the college as of today. No consultancy service is undertaken by any of the faculty. On the extension services, the college has been active in and around the locality in collaboration with the local non-governmental organisation like Gharao, Pragati Mancha and Help. Medical camps providing free health checkup, blood group test camps, first aid camps, environment and health and hygiene awareness programmes, AIDS awareness programmes, etc. are held. Students also participate in adult literacy drive in rural areas. There is no NCC wing in the college. A teacher is designated as additional charge for extension services.
INFRASTURCTURE AND LEARNING RESOURCES
The college is located in an area of 4.5 acres. The total built up area is at present 3,241 Sq. Mtrs. The college does not have adequate resources of its own to meet the needs of augmenting the infrastructure. The Government does not provide funds for maintenance of the infrastructure.
An amount of Rs.160 per annum towards building fee and development fee is collected from all the students. The college occasionally seeks donations from teachers, students and outsiders to meet specific projects. A seven member committee of teachers is constituted for proper maintenance of the infrastructure. The building infrastructure is occasionally used by outside agencies like the Railway authorities, NGOs, etc. Attempts are made to keep the campus the clean. Use of plastic tea cups, etc., is prohibited in the campus.
The Library consists of 11,258 volumes and 20 periodicals. The total number of working days of the library during the last year was 274. Apart from this Central Library, a few departments have departmental libraries. The library is open for eight hours in a day. There is no central computer facility in the college. The Department of Physics has got two computers. The sports facilities are reasonably good with infrastructure facilities for football, volley ball, cricket, table tennis, caroms, badminton, chess etc. There is a provision of an incentive of Rs.300/- per annum for outstanding sports persons. However, the participation of students in sports at all levels is not encouraging. There is no hostel either for boys or girls.
STUDENTS SUPPORT AND PROGRESSION
The college faculty put in their efforts for the progression and betterment of their students. About 92 percent of the students appear for their final year examinations. The drop out rate is about 8 percent. Average pass percentage of the college varies in between 55 and 60. While there have been a few instances of top ranks in the past, the same trend could not be consistently maintained in the resent past. The college does not have any record of students progression to employment. The Alumni of the college occupy positions of prominence in different fields in Assam. The beneficiaries of scholarships during the last year include 40 students in SC category and 10 students for half fee. The college guides the students through a Carrier Guidance Cell. A teacher who is proficient in Entrepreneurship is in charge of this Cell. The college has an alumni association, which takes active interest in the annual celebrations of the Foundation Day of the college (14th August). It also actively participates in sports and cultural programmes. In the week-long celebration of the college Week, one day is exclusively meant for the alumni. The alumni association has donated Rs.1,20,000/- to the college in the years 2003 and 2004.
ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
The overall administration of the college is taken care by a Governing Body, which is constituted by the Government of Assam. The Principal of the College is the Secretary of Governing Body. All the administrative decisions of the Governing Body are subject to the approval of the Director of Higher Education, Assam. Various Bodies and Committees are constituted with the faculty to monitor the different academic activities of the college. A Grievance Cell works with reference to teaching staff and non-teaching staff. However, there is no separate grievance cell to look into the ordinary grievances of the students. They are generally handled by the Principal of the College. No efforts are made to get financial support from various funding agencies such as UGC, Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Sports, etc. for special scheme and projects. The employees are eligible for a loan for a genuine cause from the college fund to a maximum of Rs.25,000/- at the prevailing bank rate of interest and repayable at 12 equal instalments. However, not many employees have been the beneficiaries of this facility in view of resource- crunch.
2 comments:
I SIMAN DAS STUDENT OF LUMDING COLLEGE. I LOVE MY COLLEGE & PROUD OF MY COLLEGE BECAUSE I AM BELONGS TO THIS COLLEGE.... THERE IS VERY GOOD EDUCATIONAL ATMOSPHERE. ALL TEACHERS VERY REA LIABLE. I LOVE THEIR TEACHING STYLE.
I SIMAN DAS STUDENT OF LUMDING COLLEGE. I LOVE MY COLLEGE & PROUD OF MY COLLEGE BECAUSE I AM BELONGS TO THIS COLLEGE.... THERE IS VERY GOOD EDUCATIONAL ATMOSPHERE. ALL TEACHERS VERY REA LIABLE. I LOVE THEIR TEACHING STYLE.
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