Violent scenes were witnessed at the MES Raja Residential School, Kalanthode near Chathamangalam in the district, where the entrance examination for admission to the member colleges of the Kerala Private Medical College Management Association (KPMCMA) was held on Friday amidst strong protest from different students’ organisations.
A committee headed by the district collector recently found a full-time lecturer at a government college practising at a private hospital and also claiming non-practise allowance given to doctors for refraining from private practice. Following the incident, the committee is all set to launch a drive across the district to identify such bogus practitioners and clinics.
The Admission Supervisory Committee for Professional Colleges, headed by former judge J.M. James, has annulled the entrance examination held in Kozhikode on May 31 for admission to the MBBS management seats offered by private and self-financing medical colleges in the State. The committee has found prima facie evidence of corruption and malpractice in the conduct of the test.
Primary education minister Sake Sailajanath directed officials to initiate stringent action against private colleges and schools if they were found violating norms and collecting exorbitant fees.
As many as eight private medical colleges in the state have withdrawn from the agreement they had entered with the government on seat sharing and decided to do away with 50% general category seats. In other words, any student who seeks admission to these colleges will now have to pay almost Rs 5 lakh as fees per annum, instead of the earlier subsidized fees of Rs 1,65,000/annum.
The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation Fee) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2013, that provides recognition for the consensual agreement proposed to be entered in to between the State government and the private unaided educational institutions imparting professional educational courses for 2013-14 academic year.
The Kerala Private Medical College Management Association (KPMCMA) on Friday decided to withdraw from the agreement it had entered into with the state government for admission to merit and management quota seats in colleges run by it.
In a major crackdown on private institutes, the government has ordered criminal proceedings against Sri Naryana, Sri Chaitanya and Sri Gayatri junior colleges, three most popular corporate groups for running intermediate classes which the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) does not recognize.
The government will bring an ordinance to make it mandatory for private colleges in the country to seek the approval of the All India Council for Technical Education for running postgraduate Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Application (MCA) courses.
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras high court to direct the private dental colleges to ensure and conduct admission of students to the postgraduation courses strictly as per the laws and regulations based on the merit-based rank list published by the Director of Medical Education (DME) and consequently direct the state government to monitor and supervise the admission process to ensure proper transparent and merit-based admission.
The admission supervisory committee (ASC), headed by Justice J M James, on Thursday cancelled the entrance test by private medical colleges to fill 35% management quota seats, citing question paper leak. The exam will now be held on June 22.
The government will bring an ordinance to make it mandatory for private colleges in the country to seek the approval of the All India Council for Technical Education for running postgraduate Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Application (MCA) courses.
Hopeful of passing two pending Bills to check malpractices in institutes of higher learning, including private universities, Union Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju Friday sought cooperation of the state government to take punitive action against universities indulging in malpractices.
Even as the fake degree racket of Chandra MohanJha (CMJ) University is getting murkier and believed to have even crossed the country's frontiers, the University Grants Commission (UGC) that had granted it the status of an 'university' has failed to take any action till date. Senior officials from Nagpur University, who are now searching for the CMJU's beneficiary students in over 800 colleges in its jurisdiction, disclosed that the Delhi-based apex body had granted 'private' status to as many as 150 universities across the country. Of them about 20 were believed to have operating bogus degree racket through agents spread far and wide across the country.
This year, colleges and private universities, in their bid to attract students in the upcoming “admission season’ have started to announce doles that range from free studies, attractive scholarships, bank loans and merit-based deduction in fee structure. While there are more than 16 private and deemed universities in Jaipur and a dozen of private colleges, it’s the latter that are more worried about filling up their seats.
The Bill proposing Bangalore University’s bifurcation, passed earlier this year, has been pending the Governor’s approval along with the Karnataka State Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013. The Chancellor, however, had approved the Bills to establish private universities.
Increasingly, the country is appealing to private and international higher education providers to add to national capacity. The market is economically attractive to private higher education providers. But the doors for entry of foreign higher education institutions are still not fully opened. It could be useful to look at all means of partnerships at the government level.
The fee committee chaired by Malai Subramanian has enhanced the fee for MBBS course by five per cent in two self-financing medical colleges under Pondicherry University for a period of three years.
The Medical Council of India, the apex body to regulate medical education in the country, has said the faculty and infrastructure facilities in private medical colleges are not on par with the standards set by the MCI.