Dear Nora, The “term” autonomous means having the freedom to govern itself or control its own affairs. The dictionary meaning can give you a little idea about autonomous colleges. These colleges pretty much control everything from modifying syllabus to conducting exams according to their will.

So, here are the merits and demerits of autonomous college -

Merits

• Faculties are generally very good with good academic records. Faculties having more experience are hired in these colleges.
• Infrastructure is well maintained as this also counts and one of the criteria of UGC to provide autonomous status to any college.
• Quality of lab equipment is better than regular colleges as they don’t want to lose score( UGC score) due to faulty lab equipment.
• The syllabus is kept as per the requirement of the course. Additional topics are not covered.
• What you study in the class, you have to face questions based on that portion. You don’t need to be afraid of surprises.
• In case you flunk in any paper, the college conducts the classes for you during the holidays. This way, you finish the paper when your friends enjoy their holidays. This might be demerit according to some folks but keeping the burden of even one subject is not a good idea. Professors make sure you clear the paper in the supplementary exams itself.
• Since you know the portion that is going to appear in the exam, the chances of flunking in the exam are less.
• You get better aggregate after you pass out from the college. Students who disobey lecturers and don’t do assignment and bunk regularly are the exceptions.
• They publish results on time.
• Placements are good. These colleges ensure that all eligible students get a job after passing out.

Demerits

• Professors clip the syllabus. So you learn only 1/3 or 2/3 syllabus. Covering a good portion of the curriculum is useful if you are planning for exams like Gate.
• Prescribed books are not easy to follow. They don’t follow the university norms for prescribing the books.
• The course fees are generally high as these colleges are free to fix fee-structure according to management’s wish.
• Students get marks based on their “impressions.” If you have scored well in the early semesters, chances are more that you get good marks in the coming semesters as well.
• The internal exam consists of internal assessments, assignments, and class tests. The internal mark is 50% of the total marks. If you don’t follow the professors, you lose marks.
• Fees collected for the backlog subject exams are quite insane. Students from poor financial background suffer a lot if they fail in a paper.
• Some autonomous colleges are ridiculously strict about attendance. Shortage of attendance may lead to debarment from the exams.
• If a faculty don’t teach properly, you can’t complain anonymously. The faculties are hired by the college itself.

To know better about the college, you need to talk to seniors because the scenario might be different for the college you choose. Autonomous colleges are not under any university. So they make their own rules. The rules can be beneficial as well as trouble for the students. Some autonomous colleges are simply run for making money; however, some are really good like Ramaiah, RVCE, etc. So before joining anyautonomous institute, you must know the pros and cons of that institute.

All the best

Hope this helps