BU disaffiliates five more BEd colleges

Syndicate reverses Academic Council decision, warns substandard institutions

Five more BEd colleges in the City have lost affiliation to Bangalore University (BU), whose most powerful body, the Syndicate, reversed a decision of the Academic Council on Monday.

Thus, the total number of BEd colleges affiliated to BU stands at 44 out of 98. Originally, only 39 colleges were granted the affiliation. The Academic Council, at its meeting on Saturday, had recommended affiliation to 10 more colleges, raising the list to 49.

The ten institutions were chosen from among 30 colleges recommended by the two Local Inquiry Committees (LICs) and headed by Prof Jagadeesh P, of the Department of Communication, and Prof B C Prabhakara, of the Department of Geology.

The Syndicate, however, approved only five colleges, bringing down the number to 44. The institutions approved by the Syndicate are Miranda College of Education, SJES College, MVJ College, Rock Valley College and Pragathi College.

‘Stricter rules’

Vice-Chancellor, Prof B Thimme Gowda, said the decision should be seen as the university’s resolve to be “strict” with both the LICs and the colleges.

“It’s a strong message to the committees and the colleges themselves. The committees’ recommendation for affiliation to colleges was not corresponding with their observations in several cases,” he pointed out. “Throughout the report, the committee’s observations are negative, saying the colleges do not have infrastructure or staff or are not functioning up to the mark. In the end, however, they recommend affiliation. This practice has to change.”

The disaffiliation, however, is not permanent. If colleges showed “considerable improvement” by next year, they could apply for fresh affiliation again, the vice-chancellor said. Still, if colleges want affiliation for this year, the government should set up its own committee and override the university’s decision. “Even next year, colleges would be evaluated on a quantitative basis under which they would have to achieve a certain score for performance,” according to Prof Gowda.

26 LICs

The university received applications for affiliation from 526 colleges for the next academic year, excluding BEd, MEd and MPEd institutions. Of these, 481 are for renewal and 45 fresh affiliation.

The university will form 26 LICs for inspection of colleges. One committee will inspect 20 colleges. Syndicate members, however, will not be part of LICs which will include an Academic Council member apart from experts in the field. The reports were expected by January, Prof Gowda added.

No BU bus service

The BU Syndicate has also decided to cancel the university bus service from the next academic year, saying that not many have been using it. Prof Gowda said the expenditure was a “financial burden” on the university.

For the time being, however, the university will cancel only a few routes having fewer travellers, such as the Kengeri route which has less than 20 commuters. The total number of routes will be reduced to 11 from 18. The new rules will be enforced in January.

The university spends up to Rs 1.10 crore annually to maintain the service but the returns are only Rs 10 lakh. The buses were introduced long ago when public transport was weak. Now, however, BMTC plies several buses to the university and students can avail of concessional bus passes, according to Prof Gowda. As an alternative, the university is considering introducing open trams between Mysore Road and Nagarabhavi.

The money saved from cutting transport costs could be used for providing better meals or hostel facilities to students, as proposed by the Syndicate members, the VC said.