DU teachers oppose autonomy to St. Stephen's

New Delhi: The recent proposal by the Human Resource Development
ministry to declare St. Stephen's as an autonomous institution that
can give its own degrees has not been received very well by teachers
at the Delhi University (DU).

Teachers at the varsity have said that the move by the ministry might
deprive the university of one of its best colleges that has earned the
reputation for being a prestigious institution all over India.

Also, teachers have also questioned whether the institution will be
able to function well if made autonomous.

Bharati Pradhan, a faculty member of the economics department said
that the concept of autonomous colleges had already been rejected by
DU when it was first introduced in the country as its primary aim was
to make institutions more self sufficient by increasing their
resources.

"The concept of making colleges autonomous creates a sense of
diversity rather than unifying entities that are socially diverse. DU
has already lost the Delhi College of Engineering and since St.
Stephen's is one of the jewels of the university, making it autonomous
will not be a wise move," she said.

DUTA members have also been urging the DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh
to oppose any move by the HRD ministry to declare St. Stephen's an
autonomous institution.