The way ahead for colleges

The way ahead for colleges

06/06/2020, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Financial setback owing to COVID-19 would be felt more by private colleges in semi-urban and rural areas, said M. Palaninatha Raja, Dean, Planning and Development, Thiagarajar College of Engineering.

He said here recently that people all over the world had been calling for refund of partial tuition fee and accommodation fee and adjustment of fee with their respective institutions. The colleges must come up with creative solutions

“Though students do not have access to high speed Internet and uninterrupted power supply, there has been increased access to digital learning at a low cost,” he said.

“It is the high time all institutions compulsorily trained their faculty members in this domain. Hybrid or blended learning proved that remote digital learning is a viable and cost-effective solution for certain courses,” he said.

Institutions can also engage subject experts from different parts of the world to enrich the learning experience. They can collaborate with organisations and industries and co-create courses and allow their employees to pursue some degrees at discounted fees. Shared educational services by making collaborative efforts would reduce the overheads, he said.

Students should also be given remote internship to facilitate remote mentoring and counselling. This will aid their upskilling and reskilling in a cost-effective way, he said.