Unhappy with show, UGC plans revamp of Academic Staff Colleges

Finding the performance of Academic Staff Colleges in the country to be less than satisfactory, University Grants Commission (UGC) is mulling a remodelling of these institutes even as it aims to increase their numbers during the current Plan Period.
The goal is to revamp 66 of these colleges in the country into 'faculty development centres' while taking up their strength to 100.
These colleges had come up during 1986-87 for the professional development of teachers in higher education, conducting orientation programmes for newly-appointed teachers and refresher courses for serving teachers.
However, the performance of theses colleges has been less than satisfactory, said a report by a committee constituted by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) on the National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (NMTT).

"The working of the ASCs has been reviewed from time to time to assess the quality of the programmes and to support continuation of their existence. Yet, these colleges have not been able to fully meet the professional development needs of teachers, as is emerging from the various reviews," it said.
NMTT is envisaged to comprehensively address all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation and professional development of teachers.
Among its goals is to build a strong professional cadre of teachers by setting performance standards and creating top- class institutional facilities for innovative teaching and professional development of teachers.

NMTT would come up for review at the CABE meeting here on October 10.