In twilight of its existence, BU celebrates golden jubilee

It could be the university's last convocation as a single entity

 Bangalore University (BU) on Saturday celebrated 50 years of its existence at possibly its last convocation as a single entity.

A total of 32,526 students, both of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, had applied for the convocation and were awarded degrees. As many as 212 PhD students secured doctorates on the occasion, according to university officials.

Addressing the gathering and delivering the convocation address, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Ved Prakash encouraged universities to enhance the quality of education by assessing the curriculum from time to time.

He said India had one of the largest systems of higher education with about 703 universities spread across the country. “To enhance the quality of higher education, we have to revisit the curriculum and take stock of whether the curriculum encourages analytical reasoning,” he added.

The curriculum should also be able to offer synthetic co-ordination between two subjects, according to him. “In the present era, discovery of new knowledge lies in intersection of disciplines,” he observed. Further, universities must focus on scientific advancements. It’s not enough to have only a space for learning, Prakash urged the academicians.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the convocation, Minister for Higher Education R V Deshpande said the issue of BU’s trifurcation had been discussed at length over several years.

With regard to dissent among a section of academicians about the split, he said, “Under RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan), one university has been proposed for every 100 colleges. Today for instance, the Governor stood giving gold medals to students for nearly two hours. Smaller number of colleges will make it easier for the university to manage administration.”

‘V-C never discussed split’

While the university’s vice-chancellor, B Thimme Gowda, regretted that the government had gone ahead with the decision without consenting the varsity, Deshpande maintained that he had met the V-C several times but he didn’t broach the topic with him.

“He has never spoken to me about it. Writing letters does not indicate anything. We get hundreds of letters every day to our department,” Deshpande said.

V-C appointment

The government is in the process of appointing V-Cs to six universities in the State amid allegations that it didn’t follow proper procedure in sending the proposed names to the Governor’s office and that the Governor had returned the file to it on this account.

The minister denied it: “I am not aware about the Governor sending back the file. We have followed the procedure and sent three names per university for the Governor to select from, as per regulations.”