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SOCIAL SERVICE Box No 4.3

Autonomous Colleges – Selection Criteria and Privileges

The important criteria considered for identification of institutions for grant of autonomy are

1. Academic reputation and previous performance in university examinations and
its academic/co-curricular/extension activities in the past; academic/extension
achievements of the faculty

2. Quality and merit in the selection of students and teachers, subject to statutory
requirements in this regard.

3. Adequacy of infrastructure, for example, library, equipment, accommodation for
academic activities, etc.; quality of institutional management.

4. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation of “B” grade or
above

5. Financial resources provided by the management/state government for the development
of the institution

6. Responsiveness of administrative structure and motivation and involvement of faculty in
the promotion of innovative reforms etc

As per the latest XIIth plan guidelines, once a college attains the status of an Autonomous
College, it is entitled for the following privileges:

1. have freedom to determine and prescribe its own courses of study and syllabi, restructure
and redesign the courses to suit local needs;

2. prescribe rules for admission in consonance with the reservation policy of the state
government;

3. evolve methods of assessment of students performance, the conduct of examinations
and notification of results;

4. use modern tools of educational technology to achieve higher standards and greater
creativity; promote healthy practices such as community service, extension activities,
projects for the benefit of the society at large, neighbourhood programmes,etc

The scheme of Autonomous Colleges is being implemented by the University Grants
Commission (UGC) to provide autonomy to select colleges. As on 04.12.2014 there are 487
autonomous colleges (affiliated to 93 universities) in 24 States /UnionTerritories in the country
(list is available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/ oldpdf/colleges/.

Source: Press Information Bureau MHRD, GOI

Arts and Science Colleges

4.35 There are 199 Arts and Science Colleges in the State comprising of 151 Private Aided Colleges
and 48 Government Colleges. Ernakulam district (25nos) has the largest number of Arts and Science
colleges in the state followed by Kottayam (22 nos) and Thrissur (21nos) districts. Thiruvananthapuram
district has the largest number of Government colleges (8 nos) in the state. District-wise number of
Arts and Science colleges in the state in 2013-14 is given in Appendix 4.26.

Enrolment of Students

4.36 Total number of students enrolled in various Arts and Science colleges (excluding unaided
colleges) under the four general universities in Kerala during 2013-14 is 2.32lakh. Of this 1.66 lakh
(71.36%) are girls.

Kerala State Planning Board