Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday said the government will not issue licences to new private universities in the state, saying they are "not needed in a small state".
Delivering a lecture on ‘Higher Education in India-emerging Challenges’ at OU here Saturday, Ved Prakash said private universities have a significant role to play in the education field.
The state government on Monday cleared decks for setting up of private universities in Bihar. A bill in this regard will soon be moved in the state legislative assembly by the state government.
A bill to establish three new private universities in the state will be tabled in the assembly next week. The Gujarat Private Universities (Amendment) Bill will pave the path for establishing Lakulish Yoga University in Ahmedabad, Team Lease Skills University-ITI at Tarsali in Vadodara, and CU Shah University in Wadhwan.
In a major setback to private engineering colleges operating without proper infrastructure and required faculty, the state government has ordered a "physical inspection" to ascertain the actual facilities available in the institutions.
Students taking admission to technical institutions affiliated to the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU) across the state are likely to see a change in fee structure as fee in all technical courses running in private engineering and management colleges in the state is being fixed.
Even as the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill for higher education remains to be passed by Parliament, the country's first private accreditation body came into being on Friday.
Four more Sambalpur-based private colleges have come under scrutiny even as the Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested Subash Barik, a close aide of Chairman of Shandilya College of Science and Commerce Kartik Chandra Barik.
Even as calls are growing louder against the State government for allowing as many as 17 private universities to be set up in the State, Governor and Chancellor of universities H.R. Bhardwaj has given his approval to eight of them. This means that eight of the Bills that were passed by the Legislative Assembly and Council are now Acts, paving the way for their enforcement.
Himachal Pradesh government stated in the assembly that it is not certain about the authenticity of degrees being provided by the fifteen private universities which came up in the state during last BJP rule.
At a time when there are growing concerns over the establishment of many private universities, University Grants Commission (UGC) is working on a new set of regulations to govern the functioning of private universities in the country.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Government will not issue licences to new private universities in the State, saying they are “not needed in a small State”.
Speaking about the modus operandi of the incident, Sharma said Behera had provided the question paper of physics on March 6 evening to Barik. Crime Branch officials suspect involvement of more private colleges in the question paper leak incident.
Private engineering colleges plan to hike their hostel and mess fee by about 20 per cent this year on account of the rising prices of foodstuff like rice and cereals. Students, who pay Rs 10,000 already as hostel fee, may soon have to shell out more as a result.
Minister of State for Higher Education Badri Narayan Patra on Thursday assured the Assembly that the Government will review the functioning and the fee structure of the private colleges.
While most private engineering colleges have decided to resume classes next week, government colleges are awaiting a notification from the Higher Education Department to reopen.
After downsizing, private engineering colleges in the state are planning substantial increase in fees from the forthcoming academic year. At least 40 private engineering colleges have been pleading to revise their annual fees.