Karnataka Legislative Assembly clears Bills for five new private varsities

Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan defended the establishment of the new private universities

The Legislative Assembly passed six Bills on Monday, of which five are to set up private universities amid concerns raised by legislators over their functioning.

Sri Jagadhguru Murugarajendra University Bill, the Vidyashilp University Bill, the Atria University Bill, the New Horizon University Bill and the St Joseph’s University Bill were passed in the Assembly.

Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, also the higher education minister who piloted these Bills, defended the establishment of the new private universities. “The National Knowledge Commission’s vision is to have 1,500 universities by 2030. At present, we have three crore students in higher education. In the next ten years, 14 crore students will enter this space. Jobs are changing and so are the ways in which learning happens. The private sector will play a big role with the government,” he said.

The national average in gross enrolment ratio (GER) is 26%. “It is 28% in Karnataka. But compared with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, we are far behind. To remedy this, we need such private universities,” he added.

At present, Karnataka has 19 private and 11 Deemed-to-be universities.

Legislators M P Kumaraswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, H K Patil, Bandeppa Kashempur and others expressed concern on the way existing private universities functioned.

“Students in private universities end up scoring more than those studying in state-run universities. This disparity affects the job prospects of students,” Gowda, a former minister, said.

Narayan said the government will have enough control over the private universities. Apart from reserving seats for local students, the government will have a say in fixing the fees for the programmes offered by the universities. Also, there are clauses that allow for intervention by the government. “In other words, we’ve tied their hands and legs,” he said.

The Bengaluru Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics University Bill was also passed. This seeks to bring the word ‘Bengaluru’ at the end of the university’s name.