Come January and the University Grants Commission will launch a unique scheme of bringing a cluster of colleges together to make optimum use of resources and utilize and avoid duplication to achieve common objectives. Based on the globalization principle of breaking boundaries and devised at the behest of institutions, the scheme proposes joint ventures for introduction of undergraduate courses in emerging areas like biotechnology, genetics and bioinformatics which require huge investments. From January, such courses can be started in one of the colleges forming part of a cluster. Other colleges of the cluster can, however, enroll students for the course and pool in their resources. Since the scheme would lead to greater interaction among institutions, they can carry out joint research activities. It is also proposed to set up a college instrumentation centre where costly equipment can be procured after colleges in a cluster pool in their resources. The cluster scheme also talks of sharing libraries. Books and journals can be bought collectively and access given to students and teachers in all colleges. But the most innovative aspect of the proposal is to introduce a flexible education based on a credit system. Flexibility would mean that a student takes up different courses from different colleges in a cluster to pool up credits (semester credit system) to obtain a degree. Similarly, the scheme would lead to collaboration in career counselling and job placements. UGCs officiating chairman V N Rajasekharan Pillai says the proposal to start the scheme came from various institutions. A model already existed in Assam where a cluster of rural colleges has been collaborating successfully for long. Pillai says there is an increasing demand from colleges from various parts of the country. However, he says, the scheme was not devised in haste. A series of workshops were held in Er-nakulam, Ahmedabad, Luc-know, Jammu, Guwahati, Kolkata and other places before UGC decided to formalize the scheme. Pillai says: It is an economically viable scheme which can be implemented easily. UGC has suggested an administrative structure to look after the scheme. There will be an executive committee to be headed by a chairman. The committee should consist of principals of colleges, the coordinator from each college, one nominee each of the university, the state government, UGC and two experts.

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