7 new model varsities to start in Karnataka from next academic year

Seven new 'model' universities will be functional from the 2023-24 academic year.

The new universities will come up, one each in Chamarajnagar, Bidar, Haveri, Hassan, Kodagu, Koppal and Bagalkot, which are educationally backward districts. This was announced in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's 2022-23 Budget.

On Monday, Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan held talks with Law Minister J C Madhuswamy on establishing the seven new universities. According to sources, there are no legal hurdles to start the universities and the matter is likely to be placed before the Cabinet that is scheduled to meet this Thursday.

The new universities, each of which will get Rs 2 crore, will be district-centred. "These universities will be different from conventional ones and will be set up as per the recommendations of National Education Policy 2020," a senior official said.

"The plan is to start the universities wherever there are functional postgraduate centres. Where there is no PG centre, we will have to look for new infrastructure," the official added.

"Once it is cleared in the Cabinet, we will start the process and these universities will also have powers to give affiliation within the jurisdiction of that district. These universities will not be lavish," the official said.

"Maximum utilisation of IT without the additional requirement of manpower will make these universities different from conventional ones," Bommai had said in his 2022-23 Budget speech.

Out of 31 districts, only six will be left without a public university now: Ramanagara, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Yadgir. Some districts have more than one university. Bagalkot, for example, already has a horticulture university.