Karnataka could be the first state to have a university catering specifically to management education on the lines of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) for engineering and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) for medical courses.

The Canara Bank School of Management Studies (CBSMS), Bangalore University, has prepared a preliminary proposal to start what would be called the ‘Karnataka International Management University’.

Besides addressing the issue of quality in management education in the state, the proposal also lays strong emphasis on sustainable development education. A copy of the proposal is with the Deccan Herald.

Higher Education Minister T B Jayachandra has entrusted the task of reviewing the proposal to a committee, according to K Janardhanam, director, CBSMS.

Asked about the Management University, Jayachandra, who was in the UK to attend an education forum said: “It is a positive step. Once I am back, I will look into the matter and will take some decisions.”

Some of the objectives of the university include improving the quality of management education in the state through globally benchmarked curriculum, smoothening the coordination of management education through affiliated institutions by focusing on profession-specific needs, attracting international researchers and management degree aspirants to the state and establishing a unique low-cost and high-quality management education system in the country for weaker and under-privileged sections of society.

“The university will aim to integrate management colleges and undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in other colleges. We are taking the prestigious Singapore Management University (SMU) as a model in trying to develop this concept,” said Janardhanam.

While there are as many as 261 All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)-approved management institutions with an annual intake of 22,000 in the state, hundreds of seats are left vacant each year. The proposal also aims to address this concern.

“The situation calls for immediate measures to streamline the management development process through innovative interventions in management education. Creation of a separate management university is greatly needed for aligning the management education quality to the best of the global benchmarks and making it affordable for larger sections of the society,” the proposal says.

While hailing the move to start such a university, Basavaraj Ramanlal, chairman, Karnataka College of Management, Yelahanka had a word of caution: “The faculty, infrastructure and curriculum need to be carefully planned,” he said.