Mumbai: In a first for the state, two public universities — Mumbai University and Savitribai Phule Pune University — will come together to offer an M Tech double (dual) degree in nanotechnology and energy technology, with students spending two semesters at each university. In another collaboration, six engineering colleges have joined hands to offer an honours programme in defence technology for BTech students, aimed at developing ‘Techveers’ on the lines of Agniveers, who will work with the defence to address its technological needs.A long-running collaboration between Bandodkar, MCC and Kelkar-Vaze colleges in the eastern suburbs, with a recent addition of Anna Leela College, has now been adapted to the National Education Policy (NEP) framework. The colleges were earlier part of a larger consortium, with Birla, Somaiya and Vikas colleges, that fizzled out with time. The revived arrangement could be the university’s only successful, ongoing model of a joint academic programme, with the colleges actually aligning timetables, sharing resources and expenses.For years, efforts by traditional colleges to offer joint programmes have remained limited and on paper, with most collaborations confined to postgraduate courses or research. At the undergraduate level, bringing colleges together to offer joint programmes was even more challenging, with very little progress on the ground. Many initiatives, however, eventually lost momentum. The increase in autonomous colleges, many with their own syllabus and academic structure, made such collaborations even more difficult.With the NEP encouraging resource sharing through college clusters, there is renewed interest in such collaborations. However, aligning timetables, sharing revenue and expenses and securing management support continue to remain complicated, especially at the undergraduate level, given the larger number of students and teaching requirements. Despite the limitations, some colleges are now taking small steps towards making the model work, in some form.JAI (Joint Atmanirbharta and Innovation), a military-civil fusion initiative showcasing innovation across participating colleges, served as the catalyst for a tie-up between Mumbai University’s six engineering colleges, led by Terna Engineering College. The MoU led to the development of a specialised defence course. In collaboration with Anveshana, a defence technology incubation lab established by the Indian Army at its cantonment in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Terna and the five other colleges have designed an 18-credit honours programme. Currently open to students from the six colleges, it will soon be extended to other affiliated colleges.Drawing on direct field inputs from the defence, the colleges have also designed a B Voc programme in defence technology. Prof Deven Shah, principal of Terna College and associate dean, science and technology, MU, said the programme is unique as it incorporated real-life inputs from the Indian defence. “Mostly programmes are designed with little input from the defence, but now we have insights from the field and have managed to weave them into our curriculum. We are also getting problem statements from the defence based on their requirements, which students from all six colleges can work on. The plan is to share resources and infrastructure in the near future,” said Shah.The M Tech double (dual) degree programme between MU and SPPU is likely to take off next year. “It is a first-of-its-kind for two state universities. The students will spend one year each at both the universities learning nanotechnology and energy technology respectively and will get double degrees,” said a university official. While the MoU has been signed, the intake capacity will be decided soon. NEP enables grant of one-year M Tech degrees.Prof Hiren Dand, principal, Anna Leela College, who was earlier with Mulund College of Commerce when the collaboration between MCC, Kelkar-Vaze and Bandodkar was launched to offer MSc-IT, said such tie-ups are easier to implement at the postgraduate level, where student numbers are relatively small. “With autonomy, it became difficult to bring institutions on a common platform. However, the three colleges continued with the initiative, which was subsequently reframed under the NEP in 2022, with one more college joining in. It is currently the only successful model under the university where resources are shared, faculty members from all partner colleges deliver common lectures and expenses are divided equally among the institutions,” he said.The university has also recently signed an MoU with Hyderabad’s Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, said MU vice-chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni. While the organisations together will work on joint research in early warning systems and disaster preparedness along Maharashtra’s 720-km coastline, an apprentice-based undergraduate programme in marine studies will also be considered, said the VC.Not all collaborations, however, took off as planned. An MoU between Ramnarain Ruia, ICT Matunga and VJTI, under NEP, to offer open electives fizzled out after the first few months. Aligning timetables was a little difficult with engineering colleges and traditional colleges following different academic calendars, sources said.
