The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court recommending that 44 deemed universities in the country be de-recognised. Of this, six deemed universities are from the state. Dr MS Thimmappa, former vice-chancellor of Bangalore University spoke to DNA on this issue.
Out of the eight deemed universities in the state, six have been recommended for de-recognition. Does this reflect poorly on the quality of education in the state?
I don’t think so. Institutions like Christ University have been around for a while now and have been imparting quality education. I don’t know on what basis the committee set up by the Centre has shortlisted the universities.
There are allegations of undue considerations by the HRD ministry in conferring the deemed status on some institutions.
It was an open secret that the deemed status had been given to some institutions across the country not out of academic consideration, but by taking money. We can only partially welcome HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s stand on deemed universities. Some have got the status by achieving academic excellence and the minister should consider them. The government should remove the corrupt universities, but not interfere with the good ones.
Sibal has announced that theconcept of deemed universities will be scrapped. Your comments.
It is very unfortunate that they are planning to abolish the concept because deemed universities came into existence to enhance excellence in higher education. The traditional universities are not receiving proper financial support and they are suffering because of lack of funds. There is much bureaucratic control and redtapism. So, the minister should apply his mind to these issues before taking any decision.
There are allegations that some deemed universities charge very high fees.
If they are charging high fees, then the HRD ministry should find other ways to control them. I am not saying that they are not exploiting students; in such cases, the ministry can send a showcause notice to the universities concernedin accordance with the UGC Act. But if they withdraw the concept of deemed varsities, higher education will suffer.
How will this news affect the universities and the students?
This news will surely please most of the parent universities as they will feel happy to get back the control over the universities. According to me, centralisation will breed corruption and redtapism. To avoid these practices there should be concepts like deemed universities and autonomy. But even if they withdraw the status, it won’t have any effect on students as the institutions will revert to their parent university.
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