Assembly okays bill to extend jurisdiction of women's university

The Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Bill-2014  which provides for extending the jurisdiction of the Karnataka State Women’s University, Vijayapura, to the entire State.

At present, the women’s university jurisdiction is restricted to 13 districts in north Karnataka.

Piloting the bill in the House, Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande said that the jurisdiction of the women’s university headquartered in Vijayapura was confined to the districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Vijayapura and Bagalkot, and that the government intended to extend it to the entire State.

Deshpande said that to cater for the districts of south Karnataka, an extension centre of the university would be set up in Mandya at a cost of Rs 30 crore.

While all government women’s colleges across the State will have to compulsorily affiliate themselves to the women’s university, aided and private colleges have been given the option of retaining their affiliation to their previously admitted university, or get transfer of affiliation to the women’s university within six months.

Maharani Women’s Science and Arts College, Bengaluru, Government VHD Institute of Home Science, Bengaluru, Maharani Science and Arts College, Mysuru, Government First Grade College for Women, Mysuru, will continue to be affiliated to Bengaluru and Mysore universities, he said.

The  government intends to make the four colleges part of two cluster universities proposed in the two cities, Deshpande said. New colleges have no option but to affiliate themselves with the women’s university.

C T Ravi of the BJP said that the women’s university was set up with the aim of exclusively catering to women’s education, but today it had become like any other affiliating university. He felt that continuing with the system of jurisdictional university was better as it helped in better and closer contact between the university and its students.

According to Desphande, the government had sought grants from the Central government under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan to encourage research in universities.