Demand for new universities in districts grows shriller

As if eight new public universities in the state were not enough, Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and senior BJP functionary C T Ravi have sought varsities for their districts.

Kageri represents the Sirsi constituency in Uttara Kannada district and Ravi Chikkamagaluru.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has forwarded their request to the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC). KSHEC officials confirmed this. They will, in turn, forward the proposal to the higher education department.

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Interestingly, Kageri was critical of the move to set up eight new universities in the districts saying that the government must focus on improving infrastructure and quality of education in the existing varsities instead of setting up new ones.

At present, colleges in the Chikkamagaluru district come under the Kuvempu University in Shivamogga. Uttara Kannada colleges are under Mangalore & Karnatak universities.

The proposal is to convert the IDSG Government College in Chikkamagaluru into a university. In Uttara Kannada, authorities are yet to decide where the new university should be - Sirsi or Karwar.

The state government in September had announced setting up new universities at Bidar, Haveri, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Koppal and Bagalkot by bringing an amendment to Karnataka State Universities Act. Also, it was decided to extend the existing Mandya University’s jurisdiction to the entire Mandya district.

“There’s a demand from Kolar district for a university. We can’t say no to requests for new universities in districts. As per the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP), there should be one large multidisciplinary higher education institution in every district,” KSHEC vice-chairperson B Thimme Gowda said.

Out of 31 districts, only six are without a public university now: Ramanagara, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Yadgir. Some districts have more than one university. Bagalkot, for example, already has a horticulture university.

The government has made it clear that the new universities will not be allowed to purchase land. They should function from existing postgraduate centres. They cannot create new posts as well.