College must move towards becoming multidisciplinary and aim to house outstanding education departments that offer B.Ed., M.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees in education
Design 4-year integrated B.Ed. programmes as they can now be only offered by accredited multidisciplinary higher education institutions.
Develop training programmes for foundational literacy and numeracy, multi-level teaching and evaluation, teaching children with disabilities, teaching children with special interests or talents, use of educational technology, and learner-centered and collaborative learning.
Design a credit based course on Environmental Education: environmental awareness and sensitivity towards its conservation and sustainable development. It must include areas such as climate change, pollution, waste management, sanitation, conservation of biological diversity, management of biological resources and biodiversity, forest and wildlife conservation, and sustainable development and living
Design a credit based Course on Value based education: it will include development of humanistic, ethical, Constitutional, and universal human values of truth (satya), righteous conduct (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prem), nonviolence (ahimsa), scientific temper, citizenship values, and also life-skills; lessons in seva/service and participation in community service programmes.
Design a credit based course on community engagement
Shorter post-B.Ed. certification courses (teaching of students with disabilities, leadership and management courses, design courses which will help teachers to move from one stage to another between foundational, preparatory, middle, and secondary stages)
Develop programmes for (Socio-economically Disadvantaged Groups (Gender based), Socio-Cultural Identities, Geographical Identities, Disabilities (Including Learning disabilities), Socio-economic conditions (such as migrant communities, low income households, children in vulnerable situations, victims of or children of victims of trafficking, orphans including child beggars in urban areas, and the urban poor)
Develop successful policies and schemes such as targeted scholarships, conditional cash transfers to incentivize parents and students
Initiate and formalise social measures among students like walking groups, cycling group, trekking group etc.
Initiate a programme where counsellors and/or well-trained social workers will work with and connect with students, parents, Colleges, and teachers.
Develop mechanism for assisting female and transgender children in gaining access to education so that the college can be part of Gender Inclusion Fund
Develop Teacher Education Programmes on Specific disabilities, Learning disabilities, Develop Open Distance Learning for all faculties, Develop high quality Online education platform, Develop Knowledge Hubs/Clusters, Develop Active Research communities (Interdisciplinary)
College needs to decide whether they want to be Research Intensive or Teaching Intensive University so that college can focus their goal and work accordingly.
Develop mechanism where the college can provide community engagement and service, contribution to various fields of practice, faculty development for the higher education system, and support to school education.
Plan for optimal use of infrastructure and resources.
Creation of vibrant multidisciplinary communities.
Develop vocational education.
Create opportunities for internships with local industry, businesses, artists, crafts persons, etc., as well as research internships with faculty and researchers at their own or other HEIs/research institutions
The college must consider developing 4 year Graduation Programme (where major and minor needs to be clubbed properly). Many departments can go for degree with research.
Develop integrated 5-year Bachelor’s/Master’s programme
Develop 1year or 2 year master’s programme
College can plan to be Multidisciplinary Education and Research University (MERU)
Take steps to move away from high-stakes examinations towards more continuous and comprehensive evaluation.
Develop criterion-based grading system that assesses student achievement based on the learning goals for each programme
Develop various clubs and events dedicated to science, mathematics, poetry, language, literature, debate, music, sports, culture/arts clubs, eco-clubs, activity clubs, community service projects, etc.
Develop high quality support centres which will be given adequate funds and academic resources to carry this out effectively by the centre
Develop Academic and Career Counselling centre.
Need to integrate Professional and Vocational education.
Need to start Departments in Languages, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Indology, Art, Dance, Theatre, Education, Mathematics, Statistics, Pure and Applied Sciences, Sociology, Economics, Sports, Translation and Interpretation (whichever is applicable) in ODL and normal mode with credits.
Revise CBCS for instilling innovation and flexibility
Attract international students by developing proper course material in music, yoga, history, culture, Indian languages etc. and create opportunities in social engagement
Need to create International Student office for developing proper interaction mechanism with international students
Create teachers performance assessment framework which will keep the track record of all the teachers achievements (Faculty career management system)
Develop credit-based courses in teaching/education/pedagogy/writing in their respective subjects for Ph.D pursuing students
Mechanism of Teaching Assistantships for Ph.D pursuing students
Develop vocational education in association with Industry and NGOs (online mode as well)
Start B.Voc courses and short term certificate courses in various skills (Renewable energy, AI, Data sciences,
Start 4 credits skill based courses like (quality control, travel consultant, web developer, sales associate, digital marketing, technical writer etc….
Start Career Counselling
Establish Board of Governors (BOG)
Develop Adult Education Centre (Online or Blended mode)
Establish mobile Library and Social Book Clubs (Community Library)
Develop Crowd sourcing network
Establish Heritage, customs, traditions, cultural wealth centre
Start courses on happiness and well being
Establish a centre for Indian Languages
Create Artist(s)-in-Residence to expose students to art, creativity, and the rich treasures of the region/country.
High-quality programmes and degrees in Translation and Interpretation, Art and Museum Administration, Archaeology, Artefact Conservation, Graphic Design, and Web Design
Create a centre of tourist destination which will help other state students to organise their educational trips (this will also help generating revenue)
Develop a virtual museum and gallery depicting the local heritage.
Develop a centre for Translation and Interpretation (for Indian and Foreign languages)
Establish school of Sanskrit, Pali etc. which will include mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, linguistics, dramatics, yoga, etc.
Create centre for preservation and promotion of Marathi or other local language.
Create centre for preservation and promotion of classical, tribal and endangered languages
Offer targeted training in low-expertise tasks for supporting the AI value chain such as data annotation, image classification, and speech transcription.
Develop course on Disruptive technology for parents, teachers, students and support mechanism for schools
Prepare Teachers and Students for getting projects sanctioned under National Research Foundation (NRF).
Dr Shivaji Bhosale is Assistant Professor in Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune. He has more than 15 years of teaching experience. The Author can be Contacted at: bhosale3399@gmail.com
