Mangaluru college gets heritage tag

The University College Mangalore is one of the 19 higher educational institutions across the country that have been given heritage status.

It has also received financial assistance of Rs 1.83 crore from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for restoration of its Ravindra Kala Bhavan.

Cotton College, Guwahati; Fergusson College, Pune; St Joseph’s (A) College, Tamil Nadu; Khalsa College, Punjab; and Langat Singh College of Bihar are some of the other colleges which got heritage status and development funds by the higher education regulator for standing “the test of the time” and shaping the country’s youth for at least a hundred years.

St Xaviers College, Mangaluru’s St Aloysius (A) College and St Joseph’s (A) College of Bengaluru had also applied for heritage status, along with 39 other higher educational institutions from different states. However, their applications were rejected.

The higher education regulator had received applications from a total of 60 higher educational institutions functioning in different states for grant of special heritage tag and funds for their preservation and upliftment.

The UGC’s scheme is part of the 12th five year plan for providing special heritage status to colleges and universities which have been functioning for 100 years and contributed tremendously not only in the field of higher education but also in maintaining the cultural, social and moral fabric of the long history of India.

Provision for grant under the scheme was made as many of these institutions were starving for resources and expertise to renovate and restore their heritage structures.

Bihar’s Langat Singh College in Muzaffarpur, where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed during his Champaran Satyagraha and country’s first president Rajendra Prasad was a teacher, got a financial aid of Rs 15 lakh from the UGC under the scheme for digitisation of its rich library.

The UGC earmarked just over Rs four crore to Kerala’s CMS College in Kottayam for conservation and preservation of its heritage buildings. It also earmarked Rs 1.5 crore to Government Brennan College, Kunnur, for conservation and maintenance of the items of historical significance.

Government Model Science College in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, was granted Rs 20 lakh for special treatment of antique books; restoration and special treatment for preservation of specimens of its museum as well as for sensitisation of community and students.

While Assam’s Cooton Collge was granted over Rs 4 crore for conservation of its heritage building, the University Grants Commission allocated over Rs 1 crore to St Bede’s College of Shimla for conservation of its Marian Block as well as carrying out study of the heritage.