JOIN USThe State Cabinet's decision to split Bangalore University into three, by grouping colleges according to Assembly constituency, has caused a lot of heartburn among academicians.
Going by the proposal, several colleges in the heart of Bengaluru will become part of the proposed Bangalore University (North) with its headquarters at PG Centre in Kolar.
Colleges in Fraser Town and surrounding areas and those in KR Puram and CV Raman Nagar, will not be part of Bangalore University anymore. This would mean that for all administrative purposes, students in these colleges would have to go to Kolar.
College managements fear that such a move would not only burden students but would also be detrimental to admissions. A senior official in Bangalore University, requesting anonymity, shared his resentment: “This is a unilateral decision. They never invited any public opinion. This will not help any students but will be detrimental to their interests. Kolar and Chikkaballapur should have been the universities. ”
Bangalore University itself has much to lose as Central College will not be part of BU any more. The university has been persistently requesting the government for retaining Central College, as that was where the university took shape and has been central to its identity.
According to the decision, Bangalore University will retain only the Jnanabharathi campus while the Central College campus will be part of the proposed Bangalore Central University. As a result of the Assembly constituency-wise break up of colleges, there will be a mad rush for colleges in Bangalore Central while demand would fall for other colleges, said, K M Nagaraj, former president of Bangalore University College Teachers Association (BUCTA).
Where was the need to split the university into three? He asked.
“Of the 600 odd affiliated colleges, there are 8 to 10 autonomous colleges, more than 10 have now become deemed universities, some are being grouped into cluster universities under RUSA and several colleges have very few students. If they had bunched these low-strength colleges along with a nearby college, administration would have been easy. Colleges in Nelamangala and Magadi could have been clubbed to Tumkur University. Even if they had to split it, bifurcation was sufficient,” he added.
Name matters
In fact, some of the colleges are already considering placing a request to the government, to include them under Bangalore Central. Ravi V M, managing trustee of Sri Venkateshwara Group of Institutions, K R Puram, whose college will come under Kolar University as per the proposal, said some of the colleges in the surrounding localities would give a representation seeking at least to be part of Bangalore Central.
“If we say that the college is affiliated to Kolar University, admissions will drop as people would be sceptic of an unheard university.”