Bangalore University division irks academicians

The issue of bifurcating Bangalore University (BU) has received strong opposition from academicians during a meeting organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to discuss the issue on Monday.

The main reason for the opposition was that if the BU is divided into two, the main university will become weak and this will reflect on its academic excellence.

The academicians also suggested the government to drop the idea of bifurcation and instead asked it to find some other alternative to establish a new university. “It is not a right idea to divide BU. Instead of that, the government can set up a new university at Kolar PG centre which is currently with BU,” said Siddappa, former vice-chancellor, Bangalore University.

Many academicians felt that there is always a political agenda behind the establishment of each university. PV Krishna Bhat MLC, said, “There are cases where the government set up universities because of political compulsions and to favour somebody. Before dividing the university, the government should examine the basic facilities.”

RLM Patil, director, Centre for Education and Social Studies (CESS) said, “So far, there is no policy of the government towards universities and there is no logic and vision, but the universities have been set up. My opinion is that a new university must come up as a policy otherwise it would be like an expansion of high schools. By dividing BU, the government will bring out two ‘below academic poverty line’ universities.”

Even student representatives expressed their opposition to the proposed bifurcation. Tejaswi, a student asked, “When PU and SSLC boards are capable of conducting examinations successfully why can’t the BU do that? Geographical problem will not be a reason for division. We must not look BU as an administration unit.”

Higher education minister VS Acharya, MLC Ashwath Narayan, representatives from Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, private colleges, teachers association, student organisations, former vice chancellors forum were present in the meeting.