Abstract

Higher Education department will implement a cluster system in nine autonomous degree colleges in Hyderabad. To start with, the system will be taken up for the second year degree students in identified colleges. Cluster system will facilitate mobility of students and faculty from one institution to another. For instance, a bachelor of arts in history, economics and political science student of one institution can pursue a psychology or mass communication course offered by another institution or vice-versa. The Telangana State Higher Education is all set to embrace the provisions of the New Education Policy 2020 (NEC-2020) mooting series of reforms. To begin with, the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) has decided to study implementing the cluster universities model. The TSCHE officials said that the model brings six conventional state universities together. In turn, the universities which have expertise will extend their cooperation to other universities within the cluster on how to improve standards in the sister university in the cluster. Further, both will exchange resources, faculty, research and development. Besides, students can also choose subjects from different universities within the cluster, leading to a credit transfer among the universities within the cluster. A similar model is being studied to implement the cluster of colleges which will exchange the expertise and use their existing infrastructure with each other. For implementing this model, the University Grants Commission (UGC) provide matching grants. This would help in the liberalization of the study areas for the students not only to pursue courses from across different schools within the universities in an interdisciplinary mode but also, to study some other university or college and earn credits for the same.

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