Private Universities

Amid protests and dharna from the opposition Congress and the JD(S), the Legislative Assembly on Friday adopted the Azim Premji University Bill, 2010, thus paving the way for the state’s first private university aimed at improving the quality of primary and higher education by providing training to teachers. The Alliance University Bill, 2010, another private university Bill, was also passed in the Assembly.

Both the Bills were adopted through the voice vote as the opposition parties staged a dharna in the well of the House, insisting on a joint select committee (JSC) of the house for a thorough deliberation on the Bill before getting it passed by the legislature. Opposition leader in the Assembly expressed fears that the passage of the Bill would open the floodgate for private universities in the absence of any set of regulations to govern them. Instead of placing a Bill for an individual university, the government should bring in a comprehensive private university Bill while listing out elaborate guidelines, they demanded.

Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and higher education minister Aravind Limbavali said that the Bill was prepared after studying similar Bills in other states, where private universities were already functioning. For the full report in the New Indian Express, click here

Now, while, Azim Premji can certainly be expected to do a proper job of setting up anything that he is interested in, the argument that "instead of placing a Bill for an individual university, the government should bring in a comprehensive private university Bill while listing out elaborate guidelines" does seem to have merit. As to the question of "opening the floodgate for private universities", well, with the adoption of the bill tabled in the Parliament by Hon'ble Kapil Sibal, expected to happen soon, not just Indian, but many foreign Universities are also expected to set up bases in the country. One hopes Kapil Sibal has done his homework well to pave way for overall improvement in the quality of higher education and not just quantity.   

Muralidhar Rao